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LETTERS 



OF 



MARTHA SMITH, 



WITH A 



SHORT MEMOIR OF *BR IJ^E. 



PREPARED AND PUBLISHED BY A FEW OP 
HER PARTICULAR FRIENDS. 



NEW- YORK . 

PIERCY AND REED, PRINTERS. 

No. 9 Spruce-street. 

1844. 



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TO THE READER. 



In assuming the task of making selections from the 
letters of Martha Smith, and arranging and preparing 
them for the press, we were in some degree aware of 
the difficulty of the undertaking, and not unmindful of 
the responsibility that would rest upon us. We would 
willingly have been excused from the service, and have 
confided it to more experienced hands; but the lot 
seemed to fall upon us ; and being convinced, from a 
perusal of her letters, that there was much matter in 
them too valuable to be lost, or limited even to her 
family and intimate friends, we were made willing to 
submit to the undertaking. 

It will be seen that a large number of her letters 
were written to her family at home, whilst engaged in 
religious visits to various parts of the country. These 
were in many instances almost exclusively made up of 
directions about domestic concerns, and narrative of 
her journey ings — remarks about the country, people 
and things she saw, intended for the entertainment of 
her family ; and however interesting and instructive 
they might have been to them, it is not believed they 
would be so to the general reader. 

Thus much it seemed proper to say, to account for 



IV ADVERTISEMENT. 

the numerous brief extracts which will be found inter- 
spersed through the volume. 

Many of the letters to her brother were written 
during the excitement and controversy which existed 
in the Society of Friends, previous to the separation 
in that body. In these, frequent allusion was made to 
the then existing state of things, which would not now 
be either interesting or instructive. It was therefore 
thought best, not unnecessarily to contribute to the re- 
vival of the excited feelings which grew out of that 
unhappy contest, by giving those allusions a permanent 
form. There were, nevertheless, some statements and 
observations relating to that controversy, which it was 
deemed expedient to retain, in order that the reader 
might be made more fully acquainted with her charac- 
ter and peculiar position at that period. There is, 
also, a considerable quantity of remark and observa- 
tion upon other topics, not in themselves of any im- 
portance to the public, but being intimately connected 
with sentiments and precepts of general utility and 
application, from which they could not be separated 
without injury to the sense, they have therefore been 
inserted. 

It may not be improper also here to remark, that as 
those letters were written in the confidence of friend- 
ship, or the affections of propinquity, without the 
slightest view to their ever being made public, they have 
not been composed, generally, with that strict regard 
to diction and accuracy which might have been given 
them ; and although some slight alterations and cor- 



ADVERTISEMENT. V 

rections have been made in their style and language, 
not affecting the sense, it was thought best to let them 
appear as nearly in their original state as would be 
proper. Yet, notwithstanding those defects, there will 
be found amongst them specimens of simple, yet 
beautiful and forcible eloquence, which manifest no 
ordinary talent for composition. 

It has been our aim to embody in this work, 
through the medium of her own sentiments and actions 
as many of the traits and features of her general cha- 
racter as lay within our reach, without trespassing 
upon the private and domestic relations of life ; be- 
lieving that all which has emanated from her with 
reference to the general interest and benefit of society, 
will be found useful, practical, and worthy the deepest 
attention. 

We have thus honestly, and to the best of our ability, 
acquitted ourselves of the charge committed to us ; and 
should it be found that the selection has not been made 
as judiciously as it might have been; that any thing 
has been included which ought not to have met the 
public eye ; inexperience in such matters, and a strong 
personal attachment for the writer, must plead our 
excuse. 

THE EDITORS. 

Solebury, 9th mo. 2, 1843. 



MEMOIR. 



Martha Smith, the writer of these Letters, 
was born the 8th of Second month, 1787. She 
was the daughter of Josiah and Deborah Brown, 
of Plumstead, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, mem- 
bers of the Society of Friends. 

When young, she possessed a lively imagina- 
tion, tempered with a serious, thoughtful turn of 
mind, of which the early productions of her pen, 
in an epistolary correspondence with her young 
friends, give abundant evidence, although her 
opportunities of acquiring school learning had 
been rather limited. One striking characteristic 
of her mind, which was early developed, was her 
love for the real and substantial, in preference to 
the fictitious and frivolous. 

She grew up to maturity amongst her cotem- 
poraries, and mingled with them in their juvenile 
sports and entertainments, with the ordinary 
alacrity of her age, but was rather a follower 
than a leader in the gay circles of mirth. Her 
taciturn and meditative disposition somewhat dis- 
qualified her for the companion of levity, and 
made it apparent that hilarity was not her conge- 



8 MEMOIR OF 

nial element. She imbibed, during her youthful 
age, a tase for leading and literature, and a quick 
relish for poetry, particularly that of a moral and 
sentimental character ; and Young, Cowper, and 
Milton, were her favorite authors. As she ad- 
vanced further in life, however, those early ap- 
petites and habits subsided, and her mind seemed 
busy with other objects. She was then, most 
likely, receiving and fostering the germs of 
those deep and sublime views and sentiments of 
the purity and perfection of the Christian cha- 
racter, which in due time were proclaimed in the 
exercise of her public ministry. 

She appeared in public testimony in the meet- 
ings of Friends about the year 1819 and received 
encouragement to proceed in that line, when duty 
required ; but her mind expanding beyond the 
boundaries set by those who were appointed 
judges in that matter, she was not acknowledged 
a minister until the separation of the Society ; 
soon after which, she was recommended, and re- 
mained an approved minister until her death, a 
period of about thirteen years ; during which 
time, she travelled much in the middle and west- 
ern States, for the promotion of truth and right- 
eousness on the earth, which she was frequently 
enabled to advocate in a lucid and unsophisti- 
cated manner, to the edification of many minds ; 
being free from an affected solemnity of tone or 
manner. Most especially was the example of 
practical righteousness, which shone forth in her 



MARTHA SMITH. 9 

private character, worthy of commemoration. In 
her family and neighborhood, she was a faithful 
and self-sacrificing friend, a pattern of industry 
and economy — not in order to lay up treasures 
on earth, but that she might thereby be enabled 
to devote more time to the exercise of her mind, 
the improvement of which she always considered 
vastly paramount in importance to any thing per- 
taining to this world's treasures, from the love of 
which she appeared to be very much redeemed ; 
regarding them altogether as a means, and not as 
an end. 

Testimonies to the usefulness of her public 
labors might be multiplied to a great extent, were 
it thought expedient to swell this volume with 
the opinions of others ; but it is believed that the 
straightforward truthfulness of her letters will be 
a sufficient guarantee for her honesty and integ- 
rity of purpose, where she was imperfectly 
known ; and where she was well known, such 
evidence would seem superfluous. We cannot, 
however, avoid the conviction that it would be 
best to introduce here an extract or two from a 
letter received since her death, from a friend in 
Adams county, in this State, dated York Springs, 
Third month 26, 1843. 

" After she had been in our place, on her way 
home from Indiana and Ohio, I felt it was her 
due to bear testimony to her excellent service in 
our parts. I was at several meetings with her. 
When I heard she was no more among us in 



10 MEMOIR OF 

body, regret stole across my soul that I had not 
given her this * cup of cold water/ in testimony 
of that power which sent her forth the herald of 
peace to a fallen world. Her testimony reached 
the witness in many minds, arousing the indo- 
lent, and pointing the way of return to the 
father's house to those who were spending their 
time in riotous living. But like the Saviour of 
men, her testimony was most severe to those who 
cloaked their unrighteousness with the profession 
of religion; and many therein saw the evidence 
of her being guided by that power which alone 
can support us in wrestling with ' principalities 
and powers, with spiritual wickedness in high 
places/ as well as low; and though like the 
apostle, she many times found that no one stood 
with her, she evidently felt that His grace was 
sufficient for her ; and I doubt not but children 
yet unborn will arise and call her blessed. 

" In the Yearly-meeting of Philadelphia, a 
few years since, I heard her say, she regarded 
the progress of truth in the world, or the esta- 
blishment of the church of Christ, to be repre- 
sented by the building of a temple. Not only 
were different materials needed, but there were 
different labors to perform ; — some must fell the 
timber, some must score it, and some use the 
smoothing plane. It seemed to be her lot to use 
the scoring axe; and though the labor was hard, 
and some saw not the need of its use, she be- 
lieved, as all looked unto God for help, His glory 
would be more manifest in the establishment of 



MARTHA SMITH. 11 

His kingdom in the earth. I comprehended the 
idea, for I had before seen that the adventurous, 
firm spirit of a Luther, was as necessary for the 
advancement of the work of reformation, as the 
mild eloquence of a Melancthon ; and the un- 
yielding temper and keen rebuke of a Fox, as 
the deep persuasive tone of a Pennington or a 
Penn. 

" I have waited in constant expectation to see 
your Monthly meeting prepare a testimony re- 
specting her ; for though the truth she advocated 
can never die, and her devoted perseverance and 
unconquered faith still shine, yet to give them a 
tongue were wise in man." 

Towards the close of her life she was very 
much enlarged in the ministry, in the exercise of 
which, the development of her mind was such as 
frequently to astonish her familiar friends. She 
was a zealous coadjutor with the laborers in the 
various moral enterprises for the improvement 
of the human family, viz : Temperance, Anti- 
Slavery, &c; frequently advocating the same as 
occasion seemed to demand, in the meetings of 
Friends ; believing, as she frequently expressed, 
that man's love to his Creator is best tested by 
love to the creatures of his power. 

She was remarkably free from the shackles of 
sectarianism, having come into that glorious li- 
berty, wherein she was enabled to see good 
wherever the Divine hand could be traced, having 
learned that that which God has cleansed should 



12 MEMOIR OP 

not by his children be considered common or un- 
clean, or too unholy for them to mingle with, for 
the promotion of any good cause whereby she 
believed the human family might be benefitted. 
Her faith rested not on works* but her works on 
faith. 

On her return from a visit to Indiana Yearly 
meeting, in the winter of 1840, she appeared to 
be laboring under a pulmonary affection ; but the 
ardor of her zeal being in no wise abated, she 
continued active until the following autumn, 
when the disease had made such ravages on her 
system that she w T as mostly confined at home, 
yet still evincing a lively interest in those subjects 
that had previously occupied her mind. 

About this time she had to pass through an 
afflictive dispensation, in the loss of her youngest 
child, a promising daughter of thirteen. Her 
feelings on this occasion are expressed in a few 
lines of poetry, written by herself at that time : 

Third-day morning, Wthmo. 4, 1840. 
Another morning dawns in beauty bright, 

While yet she lingers in this world of care ; 
A lovely daughter, for whose early blight, 

Sadly, and oft, will fall the dimming tear. 

Her playful innocence, her child-like glee, 
Her genius too, not of inferior mould, 

Have left their traces on each memory, 
That, day by day, its treasures will unfold. 

Second-day, 23a?. 
The bourne is past, her sufferings at an end, 
Her limbs are shrouded in the peaceful clay ; 



MARTHA SMITH. 13 

Her ashes with a sister's ashes blend, 
As side by side their precious relics lay. 



Is it a blight 1 ? a scion taken hence. 

Engrafted by the potent hand of love 
Into the vine that grows in Paradise, 

And weaves its branches round the courts above. 

Nay, nay, my soul, rather rejoice to know, 

This bud shall flourish there, and there shall bloom 

Unnipp'd by frosts that wither here below, 
Or blighted by the dampness of the tomb. 

After this event, her strength continued gradu- 
ally to decline, though her mind was preserved 
calm and cheerful, becoming one who has a well 
grounded hope of a blissful immortality. 

A short time previous to her death, a female 
friend who had travelled with her on several 
religious visits to distant places, visited her. 
During the time she was with her, Martha said 
to her, " I feel it right to impress on thy mind 
the very great importance of attending to every 
duty that is clearly manifested to thee, though it 
may be greatly in the cross to thy natural will, 
and there may seem to be mountains of difficulty 
in the way, yet if we attend simply to the dictates 
of truth, these duties will become pleasant to us. 
I think thou hast known something of this in 
thy own .experience ; it is the true principle of 
Friends ; but there is so much looking to our 
friends, and fearing this or the other will not be 
in accordance with the Discipline, or with the 



14 MEMOIR OP 

views of our friends, that I think there are but 
few who fully practice simple obedience to the 
manifested will of our Heavenly Father, which is 
of more importance to us than every other con- 
sideration. 

" I now think it right to mention to thee some 
of my past experience. When my dear mother 
lay very helpless, and I had been nursing her 
some time, I believed it was my duty to leave 
her, and attend to other duties, which were very 
clearly pointed out to me ; but my best friends 
could not see and feel with me ; they thought it 
improper, and I believe, irrational, for me to 
leave my helpless mother and my family at that 
time. It was very trying to my natural will, but 
I believed my peace of mind depended thereon, 
and in that belief, I was strengthened to leave all 
and go. I believe it was more in the cross than 
I ever left home before. I met with many out- 
ward trials, and my stay from home was pro- 
longed, because I could not appoint any meet- 
ings ; therefore I was obliged to wait until 
meeting-day, to attend the meetings I thought it 
right to visit. I think the performance of that 
journey, and the devotedness to what I believed 
was right, added more to my spiritual life than 
any one visit I ever performed ; and I can now 
recur to it with peace of mind." 

The day before her death, it was the privilege 
of the writer of this to be with her, who can 
testify, that in her case the words of the poet 
were fully realized, when he says : 



MARTHA SMITH. 15 

" The chamber where the good man meets his fate, 

Is privileged, beyond the common walks 

Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of Heaven." 

To be with her was like being in the borders of 
the spirit-land, and holding sweet converse with 
its celestial inhabitants ; while the world, with all 
its allurements, receded like the phantom of a 
dream. She did not appear to have any sense 
of her approaching dissolution, although her 
weakness was extreme, and every symptom in- 
dicated that it was at hand. Indeed, so strong 
was the spirit of life in her, that death, in every 
sense of the word, might be said to be swallowed 
up therein. The breathing of her soul was one 
continuous strain of love, thanksgiving and praise, 
though in broken accents. Light, too, beamed 
ou her understanding, at that solemn crisis, on 
the most interesting of all subjects, as will ap- 
pear from her own expressions, which were com- 
mitted to writing at the time. 

She said to one of her particular friends, in 
reference to the subjects which had divided the 
Society of Friends : " We have quarreled about 
the blood, we have quarreled about the man, 
we have quarreled about the miraculous concep- 
tion of Jesus Christ, but what have we to do 
with these things ? Let us consider the man 
as the mere garment clothing the Divinity, that 
fulness of the Godhead that dwelt in him. It 
was the Father's purpose, his eternal purpose, to 
send him to the world of mankind, clothed with 
all the feelings of a man, that overcoming these, 



16 MEMOIR OF 

he might be a perfect example to mankind; that, 
by following him, by the aid of his spirit, they 
might also overcome even the world, with all its 
temptations, its riches, its glories, and its gran- 
deur ; the flesh, with all its inordinate propensi- 
ties; the devil, or deceiver of man's peace and 
happiness, which I conceive to be the carnal 
mind, with all its twistings and entwinings, its 
insinuations and false pretensions of things, de- 
lusive reasonings, doubting and questionings why 
these things should be so." 

After a short pause, in which the breathing of 
her spirit, which was partly audible, though in 
very low and faltering accents, was thanksgiving 
and praise, she added, " How I would like my 
friends at Buckingham to know this, this day, (it 
being meeting day;) but I must wait in patience; 
he that opened it to me, can open it to them." 

A friend called to see her, on his way to meet- 
ing, and when about to take leave of her, on 
being told where he was going, she said, " Go, 
and be faithful, and don't fear the face of man." 
She then desired reading, when several chapters 
of the New Testament were read to her, in 
which she evinced a lively interest, making short 
remarks, as — "How plain !" "How wonderful !" 
She manifested a concern that those in attend- 
ance on her should be spared all unnecessary 
labor, and observed that she made a great deal 
of work. On being told that no one thought so, 
she replied, " We are often under a great mis- 
take about this ; we have a testimony to bear 



MARTHA SMITH. 17 

against oppression, and we have no more right to 
oppress ourselves than others. These bodies are 
designed to be temples of the living God, given 
to us for a glorious purpose, to work out the sal- 
vation of the immortal part*" 

Some friends of the other division of our So- 
ciety, coming to see her, she manifested much 
affection for them, and said she knew no differ- 
ence, and never had, between their friends and 
ours ; said those she could approach, and who 
could sympathise with her, felt equally near to 
her. One of the friends observing she believed 
Martha had many friends, she replied, a I do not 
think I have a personal enemy on earth." 

The reading was continued, by her request, at 
intervals during the day. Towards evening, two 
of her brothers came to her bedside. She told 
them she was very weak in body, adding, " but 
O, how strong in spirit ! O, what a glorious day 
this has been to me ! What joy of heart ! Won- 
derful ! wonderful!" 

In the early part of the evening, a friend of 
the Orthodox part of the Society called to see 
her. She appeared very glad to see him, and 
observed to him, " We are all one in Christ ;" 
and spoke of the necessity of the reduction of the 
human will, and of the free-agency of man, in 
that he had the power to choose his own course. 
She spoke to him of one at whose hands she had 
received what some deemed harsh treatment, 
saying, "He had been to me as a tender father ; 
he took me by the hand, and led me along, 

m 



18 MEMOIR OP 

encouraged me and gave me counsel, until he 
thought I had become a spoiled child, and re- 
fractory, and what could he do ? He could not 
see with me ; — he had his work and I had mine, 
and I never blamed him. 

To one of her friends who had spent the day 
with her, she said, " Thou must feel the right 
time to come again, and not wait to be sent for. 
If we were attentive, we should know the right 
time so pay a common visit. To a friend who 
was about to take leave of her, in the evening, 
and who was going to Philadelphia next morn- 
ing, she said, " Tell my friends there, that I am 
very weak in body, but strong in the Lord." 

In the night she awoke, and said she had had 
a sweet and refreshing sleep. She then asked 
a friend who was sitting by her, if she had been 
to see a young woman, whom she called by 
name, and who had been testified against by the 
Monthly-meeting. The friend replied, she had 
not visited her, neither had she seen her since 
she was disunited from Friends. She said, " I 
have visited her, and felt great satisfaction in a 
little sitting I had with her and the family. But 
how remiss we of the Society of Friends are, in 
this respect. Those who have transgressed, are 
equally the subjects of God's care, and ought to 
be the objects of our care. I have often thought 
how haTcl it was for those who had strayed from 
the right path, though they may have become 
sensible of their error, and humbly acknowledged 



MARTHA SMITH. 19 

it, yet, unless the hand of encouragement was 
held out to them, it is very hard for them to rise 
again." She said she felt no distinction in the 
human family ; and it was evident she made no 
distinction, but encouraged all to endeavor to 
attain to what she so fully realized — that peace 
of mind which is the reward of obedience. 

Early in the morning she wished to have the 
window curtains raised, that she might see the 
light. She then said, " The Lord said ' Let 
there be light,' and there was light, and how 
beautiful it is." She requested a friend who was 
sitting by her to read in the New Testament. 
She was asked if she had any choice in what part 
of the book was read. She said : *' No, not any ; 
it is all instructive to me." During the morning 
she sent for two of their workmen, conversed 
with them in a friendly and familiar manner, and 
advised them to attend meeting, and relinquish 
their present habits of drinking. One of them 
states that he was much affected with what she 
said, and thinks it likely he should still have con- 
tinued in the habit of drinking, had she not thus 
admonished him. 

About two o'clock, nature had a hard struggle 
with the disease, the latter gaining the victory. 
She continued to sink gradually until about mid- 
night, when she passed quietly away, like one 
falling into a sweet sleep, on the 22d of Second 
month, 1841. 



20 MEMOIR. 

The following lines were found among her 
papers in her own hand-writing, and are believed 
to have been composed by her a few weeks pre- 
vious to her death. They afford an additional 
evidence of her well-grounded hope of a blissful 
immortality. 

THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. 

1 go to where the rose's bloom perfumes the ambient air, 

To where the lily's sweet perfume is scented every where ; 

I go to where the native choir of woodland songsters raise, 

In concert with celestial lyre, eternal songs of praise. 

I go to where the flowers of spring, and fruits of summer bloom. 

And mellow autumn's richest tinge, ne'er fades in winter's gloom ; 

To where the streams of Paradise, in chrystal currents flow 

Through spicy groves, and verdant meads, where rests the hea' 

verily dew. 
I go lo where our blessed Lord is gone, and will provide 
A place for those who hear his word, and in his faith abide. 
I go to where the saints have gone, who walked in holy light, 
And through the mercies of our God, received their robes of white. 
Then come, thou messenger of peace, and set the prisoner free ; 
From mortal bonds the soul release, to dwell on high with thee. 



LETTERS. 



LETTER I. 

Buckingham, 6th mo. 9, 1816. 
Dear Aunt : 

My long silence must not be attributed to 
indifference, or insensibility to the favor of thy 
letter of 4th mo., 1815, but rather to a want of 
ability or opportunity. I must acknowledge that 
I feel too poor to make any reply to the whole- 
some advice contained in the fore part thereof. 
May I patiently endure that poverty, is the desire 
of my heart. I could indeed feel for the bereaved 
family of Grace Taylor, but at this distant period 
I well remember it was to me a time of renewed 
proof of the great necessity there is for us to 
have our affections weaned from this world and 
its treasures, an attainment I have often longed 
for, and often endeavored to seek after, since I 
have been a mother; believing it to be the only 
way to enjoy true happiness here, or to pursue 
the path to that hereafter. I think I have clearly 
seen, it is not in the abundance of riches alone 
that a worldly spirit consists, but that the " traf- 
ficker in hundreds may be as deeply buried as the 



22 LETTERS OF 

trafficker in thousands, unless the eye be kept 
single." 

Ah ! how often have I almost trembled, for fear 
a husband or children should prove the right eye 
or the right hand, that should be required to be 
parted with. Could I experience this naturally 
strong will to be totally slain on the cross, oh ! 
how many mountains of difficulty would be re- 
moved ; but may I never let go the faith I humbly 
own I have long had, and still have, in the good 
providence of an all-seeing God. * * 

M. S. 



LETTER II. 

Solebury, 11th mo. 2, 1817. 
Dear Aunt : 

* * * * * Thee asks me if 
ever I think of cousin J. W., which I often do, 
and had done before. But what can I say ? The 
account thee gives me is short, but agreeable; I 
had heard something of the change before ; I 
had even had a very favorable account of him from 
aunt E. Ellicott. Dear youth! methinks all that 
is living within me craves his preservation. Is 
not this somewhat fulfilling the Scriptures, in 
" those being called in from the highways, " 
seeing how many that have had the advantages 
of education and society, are floating, as it were, 
on the ocean of life, tossed by every wind, with- 
out the least ballast, or principle of gravity, to 
steady their barks ! 



MARTHA SMITH. 23 

But this, with many others of the like, and 
even more striking instances of the influence of 
divine grace, afford the animated hope that the 
blessed testimony of Truth will never be per- 
mitted to fall, however it may be slighted or 
trampled upon by professors and the children of 
professors. Dear aunt, we yesterday attended 
the funeral of that venerable father in the church, 
Oliver Paxson, perhaps as true a model of primi- 
tive purity as hath belonged to the Society since 
the days of its founder. He had been laboring 
under severe indisposition for many months, but 
unexpectedly revived some weeks since, so as to 
get out to meeting. The concourse that attended 
him to the grave was large, though the day was 
very unfavorable. He was interred at Solebury, 
where a solid meeting was held, and a lively tes- 
timony borne by Edward Hicks ; also short ones 
by William Taylor and Mercy Phillips. 

Dr. John Watson is also deceased. He was 
buried at Buckingham the 25th of 10th month. 
Thus in one week have two eminent members of 
our Society been called away — a loud summons 
to careless survivors to double their diligence. 
Give my love to all my dear relatives, joined by 
Charles Smith ; and to uncle T. W. in particular 
— has he forgotten me ] 

With unaltered affection, I now bid farewell. 

M. S. 



24 LETTERS OP 

LETTER III. 

Solebury, 8th mo. 29, ISIS. 
Dear Uncle : 

Once more I am going to address thee, though 
I feel it will require extraordinary exertions to 
accomplish it. Thy kind letter of 6th month 
last demands that exertion ; but I can say nothing 
to its contents— nothing to the subject hinted at 
in a former one of mine, (only to desire that it 
may rest a profound secret with yourselves.) My 
situation of mind, since the various provings I 
have undergone, and have yet to undergo, I have 
no ability nor inclination to describe. I can only 
faintly implore that I may never shrink from the 
chastening rod, or my faith fail in any degree. 

How have I admired the wonderful goodness 
of the Most High, that is so beautifully described 
by the prophet, in speaking of the love of Christ 
to his church — "I will allure her, and draw her 
into the wilderness, and there I will speak com- 
fortably unto her." Oh ! what comprehensive 
mercy, to allure poor erring mortals with the sun- 
shine of his countenance, till they are almost im- 
perceptibly drawn into a situation, the gloom and 
dreariness of which, his voice only can dispel. 
Nor is that goodness less conspicuous in his 
manner of opening the seals, as described by 
John the Divine, which I take to be an exact 
type of the progressive state the mind is to pass 
through, till it arrives to a thorough knowledge 
of the mysteries of the kingdom. How could 



MARTHA SMITH. 25 

mortal endure a situation comparable to that re- 
vealed in the opening of the sixth seal, if our 
peace was not previously taken from the earth, 
if any thing of an earthly nature could possibly 
yield consolation to the tried, bewildered soul. 
But blessed is the name of Israel's God, he has 
w T isely planned it otherwise. Dear friends, do 
ye not tremble for me. I trust I have often felt, 
and now feel, the glorious, inestimable privilege 
of being taught in the school of Christ ; of being 
permitted to behold the mysteries of His king- 
dom ; and on Him alone, from whom I derive all 
my strength, a]l my true comfort, I rely for pre- 
servation. 

There is a state of poverty to be endured, 
which to the inexperienced traveller is very 
trying; but there is a state which I often realise, 
that I have no words to describe, but, as I have 
sometimes mentally termed it, of not feeling at 
all; a situation in which I have believed the 
greatest watchfulness necessary. Perhaps it was 
something similar to this our Lord alluded to, 
when he declared the miserable situation of the 
unwatchful servant — Matthew, chap, xxiv., Verse 
48 to the end. But in what is it not essentially 
necessary to follow the directions of the master 
to his immediate disciples, and consequently to 
every professing Christian, to " watch and pray 
continually ;" his command to them also being — 
" Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, nor 
on the Sabbath day ;" which two seasons to me 
represent the different states of the most chilling 
3 



26 LETTERS OF 

of all poverty, and that of a degree of rest in 
the sunshine of an approving conscience — the 
last of which, I believe, of all others I most fear 
to trust myself in. 

I have very unexpectedly run this letter so far, 
but I believe I may yet add a little of the almost 
daily travail of my spirit, on account of the many 
wrong things among us as a society ; which I 
think I see is owing to a disregard of small 
things, more than to any very flagrant deviations, 
till they have become so numerous and so great 
that I have been ready to conclude there must 
be almost as great a reformation before we be- 
come what we profess to be, as there was in 
George Fox's day. 

My very soul has been grieved in beholding, 
even among the foremost ranks in Society, the 
apparent indulgences of a carnal appetite. The 
lightness and gaiety of youth I consider less 
blameable than the luxury and excess (for nothing 
less it appears to me) of the older part of Society. 

What claim can we have to the reward of self- 
denial, while we live according to the "lusts of 
the flesh," — "the lust of the eye, or the pride of 
life ¥' What consistency is there in a plain gar- 
ment made of the finest materials, the furniture 
of our houses exactly to suit the taste ; but more 
than these, the great extreme in the provision of 
the table, not to mention the expense, the great 
waste of time in preparing it — time that might 
be employed to a much more profitable purpose. 

These may be called small things, but I con- 



MARTHA SMITH. 27 

sider them great things when they become, as it 
were, an object of pursuit to the mind. Again, 
they are great things when we look to the influ- 
ence of example on mankind, and especially on 
the middle and lower classes, who, aspiring to 
an equality in appearance with others, are far 
from living within the bounds of their circum- 
stances; hence the breach of a very essential 
part of our discipline. Again, they are great 
things as they relate to our dear children, whose 
tender minds I conceive to be in danger of be- 
coming intoxicated with the love of them, even 
in infancy; and from seeds thus sown, what fruit 
can we expect but lightness and vanity, unless 
an Omnipotent arm is made bare for a deliver- 
ance. 

I know not why I have written thus to you, but 
I simply leave it. If you are tried in any of the 
before-mentioned points, oh ! that the hands of 
your arms may be made strong in resisting the 
temptation of the enemy. 

It being near meeting time on First-day morn- 
ing, I conclude with just saying I have no cause 
to complain of the health of my family, and in 
love bid you farewell. M. S. 



LETTER IV. 

Solebury, 1st mo. 25, 1819. 
Dear Brother r 

I trust it is unnecessary for me to say it gives 
me pleasure to know that I am affectionately re- 



28 LETTERS OP 

membered by thee, as expressed in thy letter of 
10th month last ; the long protracted answering 
of which, I give no apology for, but the inability 
I mostly feel to draw my mind from the neces- 
sary cares that surround me, sufficiently to indite 
any thing worth sending abroad. I read thy re- 
trospect of the days of our youth with less admi- 
ration than I should have done at some preceding 
periods of my life; and though I approve thy 
moral reflections on the shortness and uncertainty 
of time, I feel no disposition to wish the return 
of a single hour that is past, unless I were as- 
sured I could spend it to a better purpose. I 
humbly hope, through the mercy of Providence, 
that those days were not blotted by any material 
guilt; but I feel a secret regret that they were so 
much devoted to vanity and sensual gratification. 
Reviewing them in this light, thou need not won- 
der that I have little estimation for the retrospect 
of my youth ; but having, through divine mercy, 
beheld the vanity of the world and all its pur- 
suits, as connected with itself alone, my chiefest 
pleasure now lies in endeavoring to live up to 
the end for which I was created. I do not know 
how thou wilt relish such a serious subject as this ; 
but if thou art a stranger to the path of self- 
denial, believe me, thou art a stranger to the 
path of peace. Thou hast lived long enough in 
the scenes of active life, to know that crosses and 
disappointments are the invariable attendants on 
them. Hast thou been careful to mark the uner- 
ring hand of Providence therein ? Hast thou 



MARTHA SMITH. 29 

not often seen that prosperity and success in 
worldly concerns, have given wings, as it were, 
to the possessors or their children, wherewith 
they have soared ahove the pure and humhle 
principle of the Christian ] In other instances, 
behold them clogged as with thick clay, and gro- 
velling in the earth, saying, in the express lan- 
guage of conduct, " To gold, thou art my hope, 
and to fine gold, thou art my confidence." I have 
often felt a great solicitude for thee in these re- 
spects ; and encircled as thou art with the temp- 
tations to which a city life is peculiarly exposed, 
I have desired that thou may be preserved, so as 
neither to become a blemish to the Society of 
which thou art a member, a cause of grief to thy 
friends, nor prepare for thyself scenes of anguish 
through a wounded conscience. M. S* 



LETTER V. 

Solebury, 9th mo. 7, 1819, 
Dear Brother: 

After a month's confinement, I feel my strength 
sufficiently renewed to answer thine of 8th mo, 
13, which I received last week. We have felt 
the chastening hand of an all-wise Providence 
in our neighborhood very much, through the 
course of this summer, in excessive drought, but 
refreshing showers have of late been vouchsafed 
to us, whereby vegetation is somewhat revived, 
and the animated ploughman enabled to turn up 
the moistened soil. But I think it worth noting, 
3* 



SO LETTERS OP 

with gratitude to Heaven, that during some 
months of extreme heat and drought, salutary 
breezes have been almost every day experienced, 
and health has generally prevailed through the 
country. * * * # * 

Our dear and valued friend B. White has re- 
turned to us, but the satisfaction his return might 
have given us, is almost blasted by the unhappy 
situation of his mind. Some of his friends, how- 
ever, think he will be enabled to wade through 
in time, but he is yet exceedingly depressed in 
spirit. I believe it is not apprehended he will 
have to return to Europe. M. S. 



LETTER VI. 

Sokhury, 11th mo. 1, 1819. 
Dear Brother : 

Having received thy letter from Catskill of 9th 
month last, I have been under considerable anx- 
iety on thy account since, and would have writ- 
ten ere now, but for the uncertainty where a letter 
would find thee, or whether at all; and no intel- 
ligence has been had of thee since, till yesterday. 
We being at father's, heard by way of Philadel- 
phia, that thou wast in New York, surrounded 
w T ith the fever ; and though I believe the pro- 
tecting hand of Providence equally able to save 
in all places; yet I thought whether it was not 
inconsistent with sound judgment or religious 
duty, to risk health and life for temporal con- 
cerns. I often reflect on thy situation, and the 



MARTHA SMITH. 31 

solicitude tliou must no doubt feel on brother 
Moses' account. His cough is hard, though he 
complains of no pain except in his head ; he has 
received some medicine from a German doctor, 
who thinks he can cure him, or at least says he 
can ; but my hope is only in the great Physician 
who is able to heal all maladies ; and should it 
pleare Him to restore that health He hath taken 
away, my desire is that our brother may become 
an instrument of honor to His great name ; other- 
wise it would be better, far better, that he should 
be taken in youth from a world of vanity and 
corruption. I am obliged to thee for thy infor- 
mation about Hannah Stokes, and am sorry to 
reply to thy enquiries after B. "White, that his 
situation is unspeakably distressing, not only to 
his connexions, but to every true member of the 
militant church that is acquainted with it. He 
is now in the Asylum near Frankford, and by 
what I can learn, suffering the deepest mental 
misery; a state perhaps of utter despair of ever 
being again admitted into his Master's favor. 

M. S. 



LETTER VII. 

Solebury, 12th mo. 12, 1819. 
Dear Brother: 

Thine of the 6th instant came to hand this 
day, and I may express my thanks therefor, both 
as relates to thyself, and also for thy information 
concerning H. S. ; and in return I may inform 



32 LETTERS OF 

thee, by our last accounts B. White is something 
better. Pie attended our last Quarterly meeting, 
and gave in minutes from the London and Dublin 
Yearly-meetings, expressive of his acceptable 
services on those islands. We all continue to 
enjoy reasonable health, with slight intermissions 
of cold, except brother Moses, who continues to 
linger along with his cough and other infirmities r 
though not much pain. He is entirely confined 
to the house, though not to the room ; and from 
a hoarseness attendant on the nature of his dis- 
ease, he is frequently unable to speak louder 
than a whisper. * * * I think his 

declining strength renders it apparently incum- 
bent on us all most earnestly to desire, and as 
much as we are capable of, endeavoring to pro- 
mote, that his affections should become weaned 
and refined from all these changeable scenes, 
and he witness a full resignation to the sovereign 
will. M. S. 



LETTER VIII. 

Plumstcad, 1st mo. 7, 1820. 
Deau Brother : 

Having expected thy arrival by each returning 
stage for many days, we have not written to 
thee ; but considering brother Moses* situation, 
and the desire he has expressed of seeing thee 
once more, we thought it most advisable to in- 
form thee thereof. I am now at his bedside, 
where I have been watching since twelve o'clock 



MARTHA SMITH. 33 

last night. He has rested tolerably well since 
about two o'clock this morning ; his cough has 
somewhat abated, but I think when it seizes him 
now, it is more unyielding than at some former 
periods. He sits up but little, and that in the 
after part of the day. He has of late expressed 
a belief that he is fast declining, and has suffered 
much from an apprehension of not being fully 
prepared for a change ; during which conflict, it 
has been an humbling season with us ; yet ac- 
cording to my small measure, I have felt a com- 
fortable belief, that although the great dispenser 
of events may see meet, for wise and unknown 
purposes, to try us as well as him with a great 
degree of uncertainty for a considerable time, 
yet that He will in the proper season unveil his 
face for his consolation and assurance ; as I 
humbly trust He will condescend to complete 
the great work of repentance and regeneration 
of heart, that He hath mercifully begun. But 
oh ! what a lesson of instruction hath it been ! 
How desirable that we should all profit thereby. 
To see a beloved brother lying in deep anxiety 
for his eternal welfare, with a full sense of the 
impossibility of relieving him in any degree. 
Oh ! said I in my heart, what years of labor 
would it be worth enduring, to arrive at that 
state where it is said — " The fervent, effectual 
prayer of a righteous man availeth much." 
With affectionate regard, I remain thy sister, 

M. S. 



34 LETTERS OF 

LETTER IX. 

Tlumsteady 1st mo. 29, 1820. 

My Dear ftEi,ATiVEs : 

I have not been unmindful of the solicitude 
you must feel on our account, during so many 
weeks of silence, which has been occasioned by 
want of opportunity. 

I remained with brother Moses all the week 
in which you left us. After this, various con- 
cerns kept me at home until the 27th of the 12th 
month, when a sudden change in my brother 
alarmed the family. I was sent for, and came 
immediately ; since which, the greater part of my 
time has been devoted here. We have seen the 
gradual progress of the disorder, till it has con- 
fined him to his bed ; it is now some time since 
he has been able to arise therefrom without 
nearly entire help. Since the physician who had 
flattered him with the expectation of conferring 
medical assistance, candidly informed him that 
he could give him none, (which was a few days 
previous to the sudden alteration in the 12th 
month,) he appears to have been under deep soli- 
citude for his eternal welfare. He suffers much 
from the cough, and consequent sore throat, but 
patience, submission and love, have become the 
leading traits in his character — patience, in suffer- 
ing all without a murmur ; — submission, in yield- 
ing up his will passively in all things relating to 
the body, to those who attend him, for whose 
ease he appears to feel an invariable concern ; 



MARTHA SMITH. 35 

for his mother especially. I have watched with 
him a part of several nights, keeping my babe in 
the cradle by me, and feel a peculiar satisfaction 
in waiting on him. 

2d mo. 3. — All is now over with dear Moses, as 
to this world. About a quarter after one, this 
day, he breathed his last; and I believe we have 
more cause to rejoice than mourn thereat; but 
it seemed as though our hearts must almost have 
burst with the impulse of the moment for brother 
George, who arrived but a few minutes too late 
to see his close, and was nearly overcome with 
the shock. He had been here before, but from 
the difficulty of leaving his business, returned to 
New- York in order to arrange it so as to be able 
to devote some time satisfactorily with Moses. 
But I trust the dear sufferer has joined the host 
of spirits, infinitely superior to any earthly so- 
ciety. I feel no ability to enter into any par- 
ticulars that give cause for this hope, as it has 
been and continues to be, a time of humbling 
with me. I can only say, "let not thy hand 
spare, nor thine eye pity, till all within me that 
thy controversy is against, be done away. I be- 
lieve I must now conclude, with love to you all, 
remaining your affectionate niece, M. S. 



LETTER X 

Solehury, 4th mo. 25, 1820. 
Dear Brother : 

I received thy pathetic address yesterday, and 
although I have no reason to doubt thy affection 



36 LETTERS OF 

for thy relatives in this land, yet it is comfortable 
to know, that amid all the fluctuating scenes of 
busy life, a correspondence remains with us not 
a little interesting. The health of our family is 
nearly as when I wrote last. Our little Ann con- 
tinues delicate, but I have some hope she will 
outgrow her disease in time. When I say I 
have hope, I don't wish to be understood as anx- 
ious about her recovery; for should He who 
gave her see meet to take her away, I believe it 
could not be a grief to know that we had one 
child in Heaven ; and should He raise her to 
health and maturity, my prayer is, that her life 
may become a scene of devotion to Him and his 
cause on earth. I took her with me to Philadel- 
phia, and attended the several sittings of the 
Yearly-meeting, except one. It was large, and 
divinely favored with a good degree of harmony, 
in which it concluded, with one sitting on Sixth- 
day. I was made glad in visiting J. W., to see 
the happy alteration in two of her children, and 
to hear of that of one more ; but with what aug- 
mented joy could my heart congratulate her, to 
behold another dear and interesting member of 
the family, even the head, return in simplicity to 
the Father's fold. Religion always appears 
lovely, but peculiarly so in the youth ; and not- 
withstanding all the subtle arguments of the 
enemy against a plain dress, I believe it not only 
an ornament, but a great safeguard to the wearer, 
when accompanied with consistency of conduct 
and deportment. And seeing it is a time of great 



MARTHA SMITH. 37 

commotion without ; a time that will " shake not 
only the earth, but the heavens also" — not only 
the sandy foundation of men, but also the false 
heavens in which many are trusting. How im- 
portant is it that we rally to the invincible stand- 
ard ; that we come down from the false heavens, 
the unsubstantial heights of vain speculations in 
religion, and centre inward to the pure principle 
of ruth, the one thing needful, whereby we 
shall be enabled to find the path of which it is de- 
clared, that " the wayfaring man, though a fool, 
cannot err therein." I spent 6ome time very 
pleasantly with our cousins R. S. and D. C, at 
the house of cousin J. B., in whose situation I 
have felt deeply interested : greatly coveting 
that he may become a willing subject in the day 
of the Lord's power ; for unless he does, I fear 
it will be by a heavy stroke in judgment he will 
have to bow. Mother informed thee of his late 
loss in his wife. I staid in his family most of 
the time while in town, and though some cir- 
cumstances rendered it trying, I was favored with 
a comfortable belief that I was not out of my 
place in being with him at that time. I have 
just had the perusal of aunt M. H.'s letter, but 
it being at a time when my mind was under con- 
siderable exercise, and some time ago, that I be- 
lieve I cannot at present give thee any particular 
account of their situation. I hope thou wilt 
continue to cherish those sentiments thou hast 
expressed, relative to our dear brother's last 
hours, and that we may unitedly profit by the 
4 



38 LETTERS OP 

awful lesson. I feel a degree of gratitude not 
to be expressed, in that an unshaken belief is 
granted me of his happy admission into the rest 
of the righteous. * * * I consider 

the Muses dangerous dictators, in that they are 
apt to awaken the feelings, and raise or sink the 
ideas too much, in proportion as the subject is 
animating or otherwise. It is from a sense of 
this dangerous quality, that I have long since for- 
born all intercourse with them ; and also the pe- 
rusal of all kinds of pathetic poetry ; yet I wish 
Dtot to be understood as condemning it. * * 

M.S. 



LETTER XL 

Solebury, 6th mo. 29, 1820. 
Dear Brother : 

* It is neither because thy letter of the 11th 
ultimo was not duly received nor well considered, 
that I have not answered it sooner ; but I find it 
difficult to perform the duties of wife, mother 
and sister, at all times. I may now inform thee 
Our family is in usual health ; our little Ann is 
Still living, and much better than for some time 
past, but does not thrive. Thou heard, perhaps, 
that I took her to Philadelphia in the spring, in 
order to attend the Yearly-meeting, and was well 
satisfied in so doing ; though, through much hu- 
man reasoning, I found it a considerable trial, yet 
on my return, I could say I lacked nothing. I 
was glad of the intelligence thee gave me con- 



MARTHA SMITH. 6V 

cerning the late Annual meeting of New-York, 
and as thou hast opened the subject of the labors 
of the gospel messengers, I may venture to give 
my views on it. I think we read that those who 
" staid by the stuff, divided the spoil with those 
who pursued the enemy." We also read, that 
he who entered the vineyard at , the eleventh 
hour, received the same wages as he who bore 
the burthen in the heat of the day. Therefore 
I believe the reward we shall hereafter receive, 
will not be proportioned to the magnitude of the 
work we perform, so much as to the faithfulness 
with which we perform it ; and that the omission 
of known duty, in a single point, be it never so 
6mall, will add as much to our condemnation in 
the great day of account, as that of another, 
though he neglected or refused a mission to a 
great city. We all have duties to perform; some 
are chosen for vessels of peculiar honor in the 
Lord's house, that is the militant church, and 
there only do I imagine the degrees of honor are 
varied, but that the faithful of what class soever 
they may be on earth, will all be placed on the 
right hand of the good Shepherd, when done 
with time. But when favored with a right view 
of things, I see and feel the awful importance of 
this faithfulness, and that we not only willingly 
obey when directed, but like the young man in 
the Gospel, we earnestly enquire, What lack I 
yet ? — and finding it comparable to great posses- 
sions, something very near and dear to be parted 
with, that we do not turn away sorrowful, but 



40 LETTERS OP 

endeavor cheerfully to give it up, believing that 
nothing will be required of us that it would be 
best for us to have, or that we will not be enabled 
to surrender. * * * * * 

M.S. 



LETTER XII. 

Solebury, 9th mo. 5, 1820. 
Dear Uncle and Aunt : 

The account cousin E. gave me of the situa- 
tion of your family, awakened a just degree of 
sympathy for you. I am sorry to hear of aunt's 
affliction of body — also of Hannah's poor health ; 
but such is the nature of the tenure by which we 
hold our possessions here, subject to various de- 
grees of trial ; and I think T may say, happy for 
us when those trials affect the body only, and the 
mind is preserved in the proper sphere. I have 
often looked toward uncle with something of a 
desire to receive a line from him ; but believing 
the privation is in best wisdom, I desire to en- 
dure that, with all others of the like nature, as 
well as many of even a more proving one, with 
the patience a Christian ought — hoping the Di- 
vine hand may not spare, nor his eye pity, till all 
within me that His controversy is against (and 
which I know to be much,) be utterly done away ; 
that the heat of the furnace may not abate till 
not only the dross, but the reprobate silver, be 
consumed ; and, dear friends, pray for me that I 
may endure to the end. 



MARTHA SMITH. 41 

In looking over this, it seems like complaining, 
or magnifying little trials into great ones, which 
I believe would not be approved by the good 
Master, who, I am persuaded, afflicts not wil- 
lingly. 

Last week our Quarterly-meeting was held. 
It was large. Eight women friends not belong- 
ing thereto appeared in testimony. Elizabeth 
Walker was one of the number. * * * 

M.S. 



LETTER XIII. 

Solebury, 6th mo. 21, 1821. 
Dear Brother; 

After looking several times in vain for thy 
arrival, I at length received thy letter as a sub- 
stitute. * # * * I am a great 
moralizer, or rather spiritualizer, on those oc- 
currences ; therefore I cannot, without losing my 
wonted guard, say, a What a pity !" "A dread- 
ful accident!" or any of those expressions that 
seem to denote regret or alarm, unless in cases 
where the moral or religious dispositions of a 
person appear to be endangered ; but so far from 
it, that when I hear of occurrences that the gene- 
rality of people look upon as accidents or mis- 
fortunes, I often find my mind turned to the 
great First Cause, silently to consider whether 
He has not some wise and benevolent purpose, in 
permitting those casualties that almost daily ap- 
pear in neighborhoods, or among acquaintances, 
4* 



42 LETTERS OF 

sometimes visiting with sickness, losses and 
crosses of various kinds, in our sanguine pursuit 
of the things of time : all which, if they are not 
rebukes for unfaithfulness, ingratitude, or diso- 
bedience, may at least serve as mild and gentle 
hints, to remind us of the inconstancy and unsa- 
tisfactory tenure of every thing that can undergo 
a change. And happy, yea, blessed and thrice 
happy, when these things serve to open our eyes 
and direct our minds and affections to the excel- 
lency, the consolation and peace, that are to be 
found in the unchangeable truth ; in a reliance on 
that wonderful Being, who sustains the work- 
manship of His hands, and whose providence 
overrules all contingencies ! So interesting, so 
admirably calculated to soften the rough and un- 
even voyage of human life, is such a reliance on 
and faith in the Lord, I would that all the hu- 
man race might be brought to know and expe- 
rience it for themselves. My spirit is often 
melted within me into tenderness, and tears in- 
voluntarily dim my eyes, when I look over and 
contemplate the apparent situation of the youth, 
that interesting pan of the human family, that of 
latter times seems to have entwined round my 
heart and affections, in such a manner that all 
that is capable within me of feeling, is moved in 
ardent desires that they might become enamored 
of the blessed truth — might have their eyes 
opened to see the beauty of holiness, and that 
the fascinating allurements of this w r orld might 
be tarnished in their view, in such a manner that 



MARTHA SMITH. 43 

the cords of vanity should no longer hold them 
in that cruel bondage that now enthrals many, 
yea, very many of them. What a different as- 
pect would things wear among mankind, were 
this the situation of all. There would be no 
pleading excuses for this, that or the other unne- 
cessary pursuit or indulgence, no looking at the 
example of others, or fearing the opinion of the 
world. Could we but live in the liberty of truth, 
we should be raised above all the slavish fears 
that we are encompassed with, and could freely 
Bpeak and act as becomes rational creatures, 
formed with excellent endowment, and for no 
less purpose than serving and bringing glory to 
the King of Kings. I know not how it is that I 
have thus enlarged on the subject, but as it is, I 
leave it ; and with briefly stating we are all well 
a» usual, I bid thee farewell. M. S. 



LETTER XIV. 

Solebury, 9th mo. 23, 1821. 

Dear : 

Thine of 8th month 24, came duly to hand, 
and I was glad to hear of thy health and welfare. 
I should, perhaps, have answered it sooner, but 
receiving it on the eve of leaving home — not on 
an excursion of pleasure, as some do — for five 
days, but for that length of time devoted to a bet- 
ter cause. I attended the different Monthly-meet- 
ings below our own, and Newtown meeting on 
First-day following ; since which time I have 



44 LETTERS OP 

beeh variously employed between my religious, 
my social and domestic duties. I may inform 
thee, myself and family enjoy very good health ; 
and if thy health stood in need of the sea breeze, 
perhaps it was well to attend to it ; but I suppose 
it must have been a considerable expense of time 

and money to take , in thy way to it. I 

know but little of the real character of the com- 
pany thou went to accommodate, but I love to see 
men, as they are verging beyond the meridian of 
youth, evince to the world a consciousness of 
their true dignity, by abstaining from a voluntary 
mixing with the light and thoughtless classes of 
younger years. As I could not well pass by that 
part of thy letter without notice, I have just given 
thee my candid opinion of it, and leave it to thy 
more serious hours to digest. M. S. 



LETTER XV. 

Solebury, 12th mo. 16, 1821. 

Dear Uncle and Aunt : 

* * * * #1 am always 

glad when I feel the liberty and find a way to 
visit my friends in a social way, but I believe it 
necessary to be very cautious how we mix visits 
of this sort with those of duty, especially to pro- 
longing the time that duty requires. Under 
these kind of reflections I have suffered consi- 
derably, through and since my late visit, inso- 
much that my heart has seemed to recoil at the 
remembrance thereof; but through divine mercy, 



MARTHA SMITH. 45 

I have not felt one doubt respecting the rectitude 
of going to attend the Yearly-meeting. I have 
also been favored, at length, to settle in the quiet, 
and believe I was endeavoring to accommodate 
myself in the way that would best suit my hus- 
band's convenience, and that perhaps there was 
too much of the creaturely will alive, wishing 
for greater things than was meet for me at that 
time. 

I have often thought of the conversation that 
passed the evening before I left you ; and some 
expressions of uncle Thomas remain with me, 
though I then felt no disposition nor ability to 
notice them. The great depravity, if I may so 
call it, that seems to pervade the minds of 
Friends, and the unedifying conversation that 
generally occupies the time if one goes to visit a 
friend or neighbor, is what I often lament in 
secret ; but as we seem to have been created 
social beings, and capable of deriving great ad- 
vantage from society, I have not yet thought it 
right to withdraw therefrom, at suitable seasons* 
And though we may have to suffer in secret, it 
may sometimes be a benefit to us to do so ; and 
there may be some advantage, again, in being 
as it were, driven to the watchtower on such oc- 
casions. 

1st mo. 13, 1822. — Having written the pre- 
ceding some weeks since, and finding no convey- 
ance therefor, it has lain dormant, as it were ; 
and I may own that a kind of aversion to appli- 



46 LETTERS OP 

cation of this kind, has in great measure pre- 
vented me from adding thereto. I have, with 
the exception of one week devoted to the at- 
tendance of all our Monthly-meetings, also the 
Quarterly-meeting, been very industriously en- 
gaged, mostly in my family, since I came home ; 
rising early and lying down late, and being fa- 
vored with unusual ability to perform the requi- 
site duties pertaining thereto. I have mostly 
moved with alacrity of heart; nevertheless my 
desire has been, that no earthly tie, either small 
or great, may withhold me from yielding to 
known duty, or fasten my mind improperly to 
things below. * * * # * 

I now desire to be kindly remembered to 
dear E. Pugh ; the little time I spent with her on 
my way to West Grove seemed to instil a kind 
of new life into my then tried mind. My love, 
united to that of my husband, is to each of you 
and to your family. M. S. 



LETTER XVI. 

SoUbury, 2d mo. 25, 1822. 
Dear Brother : 

Thy letter of 12th month last, though yet un- 
answered, was duly received and valued ; and as 
I had nothing particular to inform thee of, I have 
deferred writing till now. Thy conceptions of 
the difficulties it is possible to surmount, when 
actuated by a sense of duty, are very just ; and 
my desire is, that thou mayest come to know 



MARTHA SMITH. 47 

them verified in thy own experience ; for what- 
ever are the straits and difficulties to pass through 
— the narrow prejudices of a world (which com- 
prehendeth not the way) that are to be braved — 
I will yet prefer the narrow path of truth to all 
that can be enjoyed in the broad way, though 
multiplied to a hundred fold. 

The deep sense of weakness that I felt previ- 
ous to setting out for New- York, together with 
various circumstances attending, was such as to 
require something of an experimental feeling of 
the saying of our blessed Lord, when strongly 
tempted : "It is written, man shall not live by 
bread alone, but by every word that proceed eth 
out of the mouth of God." The sympathy and 
fellow-feeling that I met with there, in some that 
were personal strangers to me, I have numbered 
among none of the least of the blessings that 
have attended my short life ; and I returned 
home with the satisfaction of having done what 
I believed my duty. I had the same feeling on 
returning from Baltimore, and though I consider 
it a favor that in both these journeys my lot was 
cast where I had one relative, whose countenance 
was somewhat like a shield among strangers, yet 
that, in neither case, had any weight in the scale 
of my duty in going. M. S. 



48 LETTERS OF 

LETTER XVII. 

Solebury, 5th mo, 5, 1822. 
Dear Brother : 

Thine of 3d month 12, though duly received, 
and affording me a degree of satisfaction, the 
nature of my engagements, both of hands and 
heart, hath hitherto prevented me from answer- 
ing. In truth, writing has become almost im- 
practicable with me, having no life left in relating 
the common occurrences of things in general, 
and being greatly shut up from the privilege of 
writing or speaking of those things wherein my 
soul only delighteth ; that I sometimes look on 
myself as having a dispensation of silence com- 
mitted to me, wherein I often find it necessary 
to sigh for preservation in the faith, and in the 
patience. I attended our late Yearly-meeting to 
satisfaction, which I believe was a favored one to 
many, though I was not permitted to partake 
much thereof; but in some degree to feel the 
earnest of repeated petitions for preservation, as 
under the hollow of the Holy hand ; sitting a 
silent spectator of the transactions of the meet- 
ing, wherein I think I never saw more of an ex- 
ercise prevalent for the restoration of the Society, 
vocally expressed. We had the company of 
Ann Almy, Jemimah Kees, and several other 
women Friends from a distance, mostly from the 
Eastward. We had also the company of George 
Withy in our department on Sixth-day morning, 
who, in an awakening manner, revived the pro- 



MARTHA SMITB, 49 

phet's expostulation with the daughters of his 
people, for their pride in adorning themselves. 
Thy hint respecting affairs in the religious de- 
partment is lamentable indeed, insomuch that I 
said in my heart, " Alas for our beloved Society, 
what will become of it V 9 It is cause of the 
deepest sorrow to me, to hear or see any thing 
like rents or divisions among those who stand 
conspicuous as way-marks amongst us. But 
there must be a cause ; — truth and error, light 
and darkness, do not and cannot dwell together. 
I fear that E. H. has had a severe trial or trials 
to encounter. If thou can give me any favorable 
account of things, I hope thou wilt do it soon ; 
but I think I would rather not hear the names of 
individuals. M. S. 



LETTER XVIII. 

Solebury, 12th mo. 15, 1822. 
Dear Brother : 

I received thine of the 4th inst. last evening ; 
was glad to find thou wast recovering thy health, 
and felt a glow of gratitude to the nurses, who- 
ever they were, that had paid so much attention 
to a stranger in a strange land, comparatively 
speaking. The uniform good health thou ap- 
pears to have enjoyed, may well be numbered 
among the richest blessings temporarily bestowed 
by the bountiful Giver of all good ; but as thou 
observes, those dispensations called by the great 
bulk of mankind afflictions, are not, in reality, 



60 LETTERS OP 

such; but that they are benevolently dispensed, 
or permitted for the trial of faith, for reproofs of 
instruction, and sometimes for correction or chas- 
tisement of sin and transgression ; and for which 
cause soever they are inflicted, happy are we, if 
we yield our hearts to the just appreciation of 
them ; as I believe they will be treasured up as 
visitations of divine mercy to the soul ; and if 
slighted and rejected as such, may appear against 
us in the day of account. Undoubtedly, the 
Searcher of hearts best knows in what way to 
deal with us, and the different dispensations of 
His hand are, no doubt, suited to the different 
dispositions of mankind. M. S. 



LETTER XIX. 

Solcbury, 2d mo. 2, 1823. 
Dear Brother : 

Last night I received thine of 1st month 28, 
for the contents of which I am much obliged to 
thee, as they relate to an interesting subject; but 
in styling our dear friend u head of the church," 
there is an error, perhaps only of the pen ; as our 
Saviour told his disciples, " One is your master, 
even Christ, and all ye are brethren." There 
has been much, and perhaps still is much said 
concerning Elias Hicks' doctrine; but I am so 
firm a believer that I have not been shaken, I 
think, in the least, though I did not get to hear 
him at all when last amongst us. I believe it 
must be best for us to let disputations on subjects 



MARTHA SMITH. 51 

of a religious nature alone, except urged by feel- 
ings of necessity, where the honor of truth, and 
maintenance of the blessed cause thereof, de- 
mand our sentiments ; and then, let not prejudice 
blind, nor the fear of man prevent the declara- 
tion of them. I have sometimes to view the 
actions of mankind with a kind of astonishment 
and awe, when finally my mind centres in this 
conclusion : " We must leave all } and come out 
of all" — seeing that nothing can be relied on but 
truth, and its everlasting source. The late trans- 
actions in Philadelphia seem to have aroused the 
people pretty much, and many have set about 
searching the ancient writings of Friends, which 
have been found to coincide with E. H.'s doc- 
trine to satisfaction. I notice thy kind proposal 
to furnish me with copies of the transaction, aa 
drawn up by a spectator ; but as I am not waver- 
ing on the subject, I am not anxious to see them,, 
as to my own particular. M. S. 



LETTER XX. 

Solebury, 3d mo. 11, 1823. 
Dear Brother : 

It seems with me to give thee another token of 
my remembrance, and to inform thee we are en- 
joying pretty good health : that is, we are all able 
to take our regular meals, sleep sound, and attend 
to our ordinary business ; — a favor that many, up 
and down in our land, do not experience at this 
time. But if the bed of sickness is felt to be 



52 LETTER'S OP 

made by the best of all nurses, the Physician of 
value, then the sick chamber becomes as a little 
Bethel, and much to be preferred to the continual 
round of good health, if the activity of the body 
end the genius of the mind, hurried or sliding 
softly on in the same channel, are pursuing the 
bubbles of the ocean of time, heaping up trea- 
sure on earth ; some in accumulating what is 
called wealth; some in pursuit of abundance of 
learning ; some in gratifying an almost insatiable 
thirst for gaiety, mirth and pastime ; and some, 
avoiding all extremes of these kinds, living so as 
to escape the censure of the world, or even of 
those they esteem good, are yet far behind-hand 
in their accounts with Him who sees not as man 
seeth, and in whose eyes they are, perhaps, far 
the most culpable of all. Of this latter class, I 
sometimes almost tremble with fear, lest I shall 
become one ; lest through distrust, diffidence, 
human reasoning, fear of the world, love of ease, 
or what cause soever, I lag behind the true guide. 
If obedience does not keep pace with knowledge, 
I shall fall under condemnation. 

I have been looking for a letter from thy hand, 
since we wrote last, which was the fore part of 
last month ; and being written in haste, was per- 
haps incoherent in some points. There has been 
much said about Elias Hicks, and some very un- 
pleasant things have occurred. Friends whom I 
highly esteemed for religious worth, have under- 
stood him or taken him differently from what I 
believe he really is. Although I did not hear 



MARTHA SMITH, 53 

hinl at all, while last amongst us, I have a belief 
that he is sound in the fundamental principles, as 
professed by this Society in the beginning. It is 
said he denies the divinity of Jesus Christ ; but I 
have all along believed, that from his manner of 
reasoning, those heads that could not contain 
quite as much as his, lose some words, which, 
though they do not strike the ear with the same 
force as some others, are nevertheless of equal 
importance, as they would go to qualify others, 
and render the thread of argument, if I may use 
the term, complete. It is, however, necessary 
to be very cautious how we hear, for I find that 
things are greatly exaggerated, and I do hope 
it is more through misunderstanding than un- 
soundness, that many take the part they do. I 
wish to hear how the matter is going on in New- 
York. We had the company and excellent la- 
bors of Richard Mott at our late Quarterly- 
meeting ; but I heard he returned home immedi- 
ately after it. # * * * * 

M.S. 



LETTER XXI. 

New- York, 6th mo. 23, 1823. 
Dear Husband : 

It is greatly in the cross that I send this, in- 
stead of coming myself; but we did not arrive 
here till yesterday morning at 8 o'clock. I at- 
tended both meetings in this city to my satisfac- 
tion ; met Hannah Stokes at Hester-street, and 
5* 



54 LETTERS OP 

went home with her, in company with Elizabeth 
Hopkins, sister to Beulah Twining. Thou 
knows my prospect of going on to Long Island ; 
but not seeing how or in what way I am to get 
there, I must dwell in the patience, believing a 
way will be made, or I shall be released. Bro- 
ther George proposed taking me there, but not 
being well this morning, we shall not go to-day ; 
therefore I commit thee and the dear children to 
the Lord, with the hope you will be preserved by 
Him ; and if I should not get home this Week, do 
not be concerned about me ; only, when thou feels 
the spirit of prayer, ask for my preservation. I 
have seen the Lord's wonders in the mighty 
deep since I left home, and I see it is an awful 
day, in which every one mast stand upon his own 
foundation. And I would that all might hear 
and obey the call, " to your tents, O Israel." God 
is our tent, and in him alone we shall find safety. 
I trust you will do the best you can without me ; 
and I shall be glad to get a letter by the next 
mail after thou gets this. As to the manner of 
. my returning home, I must leave it, and if thou 
canst give me any instructions, I will endeavor 
to attend to them. My kind love to all, and to 
inquiring friends. M. S. 



LETTER XXII. 

Solchury, 7th mo. 7, 1823. 
Dear Brother : 

After leaving thee on the wharf, I had a 
comfortable passage in the steamboat ; the friends 



MARTHA SMITH. 55 

to whose notice thou commended me, paid every 
necessary attention. After dinner, J. invited 
me to accompany himself and wife into a cabin 
in front of the boat, to see a man perform what 
he called a sleight of hand. I felt a reluctance 
to going ; but t impelled by a secret something, I 
went; and after the poor creature had shown his 
pitiful tricks, I was constrained to bear my testi- 
mony against such a perversion of the faculties 
given to man. We landed safe at N. B., and I 
was placed in the stage, with my companions, 
and proceeded to Trenton, where we did not 
arrive till dusk. I met with a kind reception at 
my friend I. S.'s. ***** 
* Next day had a comfortable time at 
father Smith's, there being a number of children 
and others who could not get to meeting. Thus 
thou sees how I have been employed since I left 
thee. And on looking over the past, the trials 
and difficulties I have experienced seem to va- 
nish, leaving no trace behind them, only that 
they once existed. My peace and satisfaction 
are also the same ; — I only remember I was tried j 
tempted, persecuted, and falsely spoken of; that 
I was supported through and over all, by a power 
Tiot to be comprehended by man ; and now to 
know that I stood accountable to my Creator for 
the present actions of my life ; that the past 
availeth me nothing; without looking to the fu- 
ture, I only desire to live as I ought the present 
moment. I am anxious to hear from thee, how 
thy health is in particular. Do not disguise the 



56 LETTERS OF 

truth in that respect. I also wish to hear how 
affairs go on in the city; — I think it one of the 
most interesting eras that has ever been in our 
Society— a day wherein we are called upon to 
come out of the forms and rules of mere profes- 
sion, into the life and substance of true religion. 

M.S. 



LETTER XXIII. 

Solebury, 8th mo. 1, 1823. 
Dear Brother : 

I received thine of 7th month 3, in due course, 
and would have answered it sooner, but having 
mailed one previously thereto, I have been wait- 
ing with no small solicitude for an answer to that. 
I was glad to hear of the amendment of thy 
health, and hope thou wilt be careful of it ; I 
also request thou wilt be candid in letting us 
know if it should decline ; and by all means to 
inform us immediately if thou gets sick, as I 
think, unless something material was the matter, 
I could easily attend thee. Such is the abstracted 
situation of my mind, that I feel as much at home 
in any place where I am drawn, as I do at what 
is called my home, and indeed much more so 
than when I am here and my mind drawn else- 
where, which has been much my case since I 
returned from New- York. * * * * 

* * I plainly perceive there are none on 

whose faith experience, example or precept, it 
will do for me to rely ; and I also perceive there 



MARTHA SMITH. 57 

has been a disposition in me to conform to the 
views of those I esteemed preferable to myself, 
and that I have even been in danger of denying 
the testimony, if I have not actually done it, 
rather than speak and act in a manner contrary 
to those views. Therefore, seeing the awful 
vortex from which I have been preserved, I feel 
the importance of firm adherence to what I now 
believe to be my duty; and under this head 
is comprised a faithful testimony against all un- 
righteousness and worldly lust, the greatest de- 
gree of which I conceive to be robbing God of 
his just due, and giving that honor to the crea- 
ture that belongs to the Creator only. I may y 
perhaps, be thought pointedly severe ; but know- 
ing the integrity of my motives, I must leave the 
consequence to all-wise discretion, I am far 
from judging all who do not come out decidedly, 
as I believe I must. If they are not yet called 
upon in this way, I have nothing to do with con- 
demning them. My proper sphere of action is 
in the vineyard of my own heart, and there I 
desire to be found daily laboring. I never felt 
myself so much at liberty, nor so much released 
from what I may call the concerns of other peo- 
ple ; but let no one imagine this liberty has been 
stept into at once out of the world ; it is the suc- 
ceeding stage in the Christian course, to long and 
deep imprisonment, insomuch that I have some- 
times thought my lot was to be as John the Bap- 
tist, who ended his days in prison. But thanks 
to the Deliverer of souls, I was not consumed in 



68 LETTERS OP 

the day of trial, nor was my faith suffered to fail 
under deep proving. I can therefore say to 
others, from a degree of experience, " it is good 
to trust in the Lord, and in the might of his 
power, that though sorrows may continue all the 
night, joy cometh in the morning," M. S. 



LETTER XXIV. 

Solebury, 8th mo. 21, 1823. 
Dear Brother : 

# # # j w j]| now 1 ^ ecur to thy 

letter of last month. To some of the contents I 
gave a partial answer in my last ; but with regard 
to a reform in our Society, I believe it as impos- 
sible in the present state of things, for it to come 
quietly and peaceably about, as for a new birth 
to take place in a corrupt heart without the sen- 
sible perception thereof. At present, I seem to 
see nothing about who will resign, or who will 
be disowned ; but my belief has become strength- 
ened, yea, I think confirmed, that the true church 
militant never can be governed by human laws ; 
but that this church never will exist in a body on 
earth — I am unwilling to suffer such an idea. 
Nay, the eye of my mind rolls on to future ages, 
when no partition walls shall stand betwixt man 
and man; when the soul shall be the only object 
of attention ; when form, or color of the skin, 
-shall not stand as barriers in the way of that 
freedom man was created with a capacity to hold 
and enjoy. And one great step towards this 






MARTHA SMITH. 59 

would be, for mankind to become convinced that 
religion is one of the simplest things in nature ; 
that it is nothing more nor less than obedience to 
the dictates of the divine spirit ; that it is equally 
within the reach of all, and that we all stand on 
an equality in sight of our Creator, till we volun- 
tarily sink ourselves below the common level by 
departing from His law, which is obedience and 
love. The enemy, which I believe to be the car- 
nal reasoner in man, has long held its captives 
under the apprehension that it is presumption to 
believe that every solitary individual is designed 
for an instrument of good, and to bring glory to 
the Almighty Creator. At the same time, this 
idea produces effects directly contrary to true hu- 
mility. It makes us not those benevolent beings 
tvho are ready to do a good office to a fellow 
creature at any time. Nay, it makes us only ob- 
sequious to the low, groveling propensities of our 
corrupt inclinations and desires. I believe these 
abundantly exist among the professors of the law ; 
for such I esteem formalists in religion, who, for 
want of faithfulness in that dispensation, are like 
ancient Israel, wandering backward and forward 
in the wilderness, instead of coming out as po- 
lished instruments, under the glorious dispensa- 
tion of the gospel. 

I may now inform thee I expect to make a 
considerable excursion, of which I had a view 
before I left New- York, though a partial one. It 
is to pay a general visit, in social love, to all my 
connexions, friends and acquaintances, in Chester 



60 LETTERS OP 

county, Maryland, and perhaps Virginia. I felt 
free to ask Charles to accompany me in such a 
visit, this fall, soon after I came home. He 
thought it would not be convenient for him till 
winter ; and there the matter settled, and. I 
seemed to be pretty easy, as it lay at such a dis- 
tance ; for truly I yet love too well to put these 
things off as long as possible. But my mind has 
not been settled here, nor have I found rest for 
the sole of my foot, in the enjoyment of my fa- 
mily. After a close conflict last week, wherein 
the deprivation of some of my children seemed 
presented to my view, and I was even made 
willing to say, "not my will, but thine, be done," 
light gradually arose on the immediate perform- 
ance of that visit ; and after repeated desires for 
a clear manifestation herein, it opens on setting 
out next week. I expect to be absent four 
weeks ; but I am led so much like a child that I 
do not know enough to make positive calculations 
at all. I stand simply resigned to be led at any 
time and any where the Master pleaseth. I spent 
a few hours yesterday at Edward Hicks's, in 
Newtown. He complained of feeling poorly and 
low-spirited, but manifested so much life in the 
cause of religion, that I was much strengthened; 
for I stand so much alone here, that I feel an 
almost constant depression. There is such an 
outcry for stillness, caution, and " do?iH go too fast" 
that in fact I think many act more like Infidels 
than believers in the precious life within. And 
truly, it is very plain to me, that he who belie veth 



MARTHA SMITH. 61 

in the inward guide, and yet doth not attend to 
the monitions thereof, rather than to the wise 
and prudent maxims of this world, is worse than 
he that believeth not in such a teacher. It is 
also said in Scripture, the fearful and unbelieving 
are to have their portion together. M. S. 



LETTER XXV. 

West Grove, 9th mo. 7, 1823. 
Dear Husband : 

* I am renewedly confirmed in 
the belief, that I must become as a weaned child 
from the world, and entirely dependent on the 
pure milk of the Divine Word, that is able to 
create all things anew within me. I have felt 
my mind frequently clothed with desires for thy 
and the children's preservation, not only in my 
absence, but at all times. Yet, to suffer my 
thoughts often to dwell on the outward circum- 
stances of the family, I find would be like par- 
taking of forbidden fruit. I therefore endeavor 
to leave all to the disposal of Divine Providence, 
fully believing He is able to bless or blast our 
works, as our hearts are found to be sincere or 
not in his sight ; and knowing that He sees us as 
we really are, I leave mankind to say what they 
will, and press forward in humble trust that as 
He has hitherto been my stay and defence, He 
will continue to be my director, if I look rightly 
to Him. I am endeavoring to guard every 
avenue of my heart against the entrance of 
6 



62 LETTERS OP 

anxiety for my family ; fearing, if freely admit- 
ted, it would destroy my comfort, and might 
thereby be a means of frustrating the designs of 
Divine Wisdom respecting me. M. S. 



LETTER XXVI. 

West Nottingham, 9th mo. 14, 1823. 
Dear Brother: 

Thine of the 26th of last month, together with 
the examination of G. W.'s address, came to 
hand a few minutes before I left home, which 
was on the 13th ult. I pass over the various 
trials that my mind experienced previous thereto, 
and also since, as something calculated rather to 
instruct me in the way of redemption from the 
world, the customs, maxims and opinions thereof, 
than to entertain or edify another. Suffice it to 
say, I left home with only the staff of Faith for 
support ; a reliance on internal light, for a guide 
and director. And here I must observe, what a 
striking proof it is of the instability of mankind, 
and the powerful effects of the prejudice of edu- 
cation, that a people, the foundation of whose 
systematic fabric was this same light, should 
have so far degenerated, as in life and conduct to 
deny the efficacy and sufficiency thereof. But 
such degeneracy is in the very nature of things, 
and the proneness of the human heart to seek 
for outward support, I believe will continue to 
overspread the earth, while the true militant 
cnurch is believed to rest on any thing like rules 



MARTHA SMITH. 63 

and orders, that must be supported by bodies of 
people. And till a more general manifestation 
of that higher dispensation that has already 
dawned on the mind of some, deep, very deep, 
will be the baptism of many. That this higher 
dispensation will advance, I am fully confirmed, 
when the sword, that dividing instrument, shall 
be beaten into a ploughshare, and the spear, that 
pierces to the quick, into a pruning hook. The 
internal eyes of some are already opened to be- 
hold the deep, mysterious meaning of these 
things, as reaching beyond an allusion to a mere 
cessation of outward hostilities. And as a happy 
prelude to that blessed day, I look upon the con- 
fusion, turning and overturning amongst men in 
the present day ; believing that when the old hea- 
vens and the old earth shall be rolled up, and 
" vanish like a scroll, " that the new heavens and 
the new earth will appear to an astonished world; 
yea, that it will appear as a morning without 
clouds, having neither spot nor wrinkle therein. 
At the approach of that day, I fear some will, 
like the favored people of the Lord formerly, be- 
lieving as they did, that having Abraham for their 
father, and the law of Moses for their guide, they 
were on the sure foundation, — therefore reject 
the truth, in its new form of appearing. But 
methinks I would not shrink from any suffering 
that may be meted to me, if happily I might be 
a means of persuading any to stand resigned, and 
ready to be moulded into any shape the great 
Potter may see fit to fashion them in. O, that 



64 LETTERS OP 

all may beware of that stubborn, creaturely 
zeal, that is built on the example and precept of 
our forefathers, instead of an experimental know- 
ledge of the truth in ourselves. Having tasted 
and handled of these things myself, I know what 
I write ; but as I believe thou wilt not feel con- 
scious of having acted under the influence of that 
zeal, thou wilt not take that sentence to thyself. 
# * # # I enjoy myself pretty 

well here in a social way, but the gloomy fog of 
superstition and prejudice is enough to make the 
soul sick with inhaling its vapors ; and methinks 
I would gladly retire with my family into some 
lonely desert, where the mournful state of capti- 
vated man might no longer be present to my 
eyes. But I strive to become willing to endure 
my allotted portion of suffering ; often remem- 
bering what the Saviour suffered for us. I must 
cut short, in concluding this with love to all — in a 
particular manner the sincere hearted ; and de- 
sire for the restoration of all others. M. S. 



LETTER XXVII. 

Baltimore, 9th mo. 17, 1823. 
Dear Husband : 

* * # * Though my mind has 

been deeply tried, my faith has not failed. But 
such is the tenure of my standing, that I find 
it dangerous to look backward or forward, 
and above all, to look outward ; but in hu- 
mility I can say, if I must perish, it may as well 
be in endeavoring to gain the kingdom, as in 



MARTHA SMITH. 65 

standing in a false rest, which I fully believe a 
trusting in any of the experiences or opinions of 
other people, would be to me. In trust that Pro- 
vidence will be a protector to thee and the chil- 
dren, I bid you farewell. M. S. 



LETTER XXVIII. 

Baltimore, 10th mo. 3, 1823. 
Dear Husband : 

* . * * * * I am m US ual 

health, and feel my mind much relieved from the 
grievous burthen of traditional prejudice. I have 
laid my notions of distinction in the dust. The 
opinion of man is of no consequence to me, as 
respects myself, and my only desire is that I may 
be kept low and humble in the sight of God. 
That He will accomplish his own designs con- 
cerning me, I have no doubt, if I do not prove 
refractory, and fly from His hand. Each night 
when my head rests on the pillow, a secret desire 
arises from my heart to the Preserver of all, for 
thy preservation ; and in this I rest, for I know 
that of ourselves we can do nothing, and that 
" unless the Lord keep the city, the watchman 
waketh but in vain." M. S. 



LETTER XXIX. 

Solebury, 11th mo. 5, 1823. 
Dear Brother : 

I have been looking for a letter from thee, but 
considering thou, perhaps, does not know I have 
6* 



66 LETTERS OF 

returned home, I have not been disappointed 
much in not getting one. After a tour of almost 
eight weeks, I returned on Fifth-day, the 23d of 
last month, having been favored with health of 
body and serenity of mind : that notwithstanding 
the dark cloud of opposition and prejudice rolled 
over my head, yet my soul was centred in 
confidence in the Supreme Power in which I 
trusted. And though outward commotions shook 
every thing that could be shaken, still the rock of 
ages being my only defence, I was enabled to 
repose in peace beneath its mighty shadow. My 
family also was preserved in health during my 
absence. The books thou last sent, came safely 
to hand. The one in reply to G. W.'s farewell 
address, I left with Charles, but have read it since 
my return, with a good deal of interest, deeming 
it well calculated to counteract the influence of 
the former. But wxmderful to observe, the sta- 
tionary constellations, in the old dispensation, 
seem not disposed to yield to the superior light 
that has dawned, and like those sparkling lumi- 
naries, will no doubt continue to twinkle in the 
firmament of righteousness, till the powerful rays 
of the advancing sun shall fairly overpower the 
fainter light. Please let me know if Priscilla 
Hunt has been with you, and if she gets along 
pretty well. I feel desirous of hearing from 
Friends at the Eastward ; for truly, report is so 
much against them, that had I not been there and 
felt for myself, I should perhaps have run in 
opinion with the torrent. But what is this new 



MARTHA SMITH. 67 

dispensation to produce ? I feel calm in the 
reflection, that perhaps the day may come, when 
like our holy Pattern, we may be constrained to 
suffer the scoffs of the world and the ruin of re- 
putation therein, without opening our mouths in 
defence, but suffering silently and patiently, com- 
mit ourselves, with our cause, to the Lord. I 
have felt no hesitation in letting any one see 
those letters of S. Philbrick, that was willing to 
read them, but it is considered somewhat like 
spreading poison, by those who are already 

alarmed for the tottering peace of Society. 

has never written to me, but she is not far from 
me in spirit, and unless she is willingly swayed 
by the love of popularity, I think she will come 
out plainly on the side of truth. I should like 
to know whether she has read* S. P. or not, but 
it matters little. If those who feel the full 
weight and importance of faithfulness, only keep 
a single eye to the truth, and walk by the light 
thereof, all obstacles will give way in due time, 
as the walls of Jericho did to the leader and his 
host formerly. 

I have been looking over what I have written, 
and find I have given thee no account of my visit 
after I wrote thee from Baltimore, at which 
place I spent, altogether, about ten days, which 
was, throughout, to satisfaction on my part; 
though the pomp and ceremony of the city were 
burdensome to bear. I wrote a kind of diary to 
my husband, which thou may read when thou 
comes over here. * * * I want thee 



68 LETTERS OF 

to give me a full account how you are getting 
along. I understand Edward Hicks has been to 
see you. M. S. 



LETTER XXX. 

Solebury, 12th mo. 15, 1823. 
Dear Brother j 

Day after day has passed by since I received 
thy letter of 13th of last month, and yet I have 
not answered it ; for which I hope thou wilt ex- 
cuse me, that out of seven weeks and three days 
since I returned from Chester county, I have 
been from home twenty-three days more or less ; 
that I find no excuse will avail me, from an un- 
remitted dedication of time and talents to the 
cause in which I have enlisted. Concerning 
Anna Braithewaite, I met her in Philadelphia, in 
the Ninth month, at Pine-street meeting, and 
attended an evening meeting at Arch-street, ap- 
pointed by her, for all the young people who 
chose to attend. At the first of these, she was 
very clear in testimony ; but at the latter, her 
ministry was much mixed. I also heard her in 
Baltimore, on the morning of Tenth month 5th, 
clear and satisfactory, though not in a manner 
calculated to drive the enemy from his strong 
holds, in the present day, so well as our dear P. 
H. To thy query concerning our uncle I. W., 
I can say, it was easy enough for me to get along 
there ; for whatever notions people of that class 
entertain of the Lord's servants, there is little of 



MARTHA SMITH. 69 

that deadly malevolence to be found among them 
that the enemy of all good is stirring up among 
the high professors of religion. Cousin J., I be- 
lieve, has not much dependence upon literal 
forms, but has not seen far enough to adopt, or 
fully approve, all E. H.'s doctrine, though he 
united with him in many things ; but when oppo- 
sers, or even those who, knowing but little for 
themselves, are alternately the tools for either 
party, get hold of a word or a sentiment from 
such a person as cousin J., they can soon blow 
it into a flame of disunity, though perhaps it 
amounted to no more than disapprobation of a 
few sentences ; and this I believe to be the fact 
in the present instance. Cousin A. P. is de- 
cidedly opposed to all formal profession and per- 
formance. Thy judgment of our Nottingham 
friends is quite correct, and I hope that no con- 
sideration of an interested nature will induce 
thee to fly from the standard of truth in thine 
own breast. If cousin E. W. has broached the 
subject, it becomes thee, perhaps, to pursue it 
with calmness and firmness. I am persuaded 
they have suffered themselves to become the 
dupes of prejudice, misapprehension, or report, 
and so fixed in it, it was not very pleasant being 
there. Perhaps a clear statement of our dear 
old friend E. H.'s standing in Society at home, 
would unbei?d their minds a little from the confi- 
dence they appear to have in the Right Honora- 
bles in Philadelphia. But let who will cling to 
the old system, as managed now-a-days, or rather 



70 LETTERS OF 

to the managers, it will not do for those whose 
eyes are opened to see through these moonlight 
shadows, to wink at them, or turn their backs on 
the truth. Persecution is creeping along, and 
no one knows how soon he or she may be the 
object of it. 

There has been a great revival at Trenton 5 
there are four young women, and a youth in his 
teens, that appear in the ministry ; and the order 
of Society has been publicly violated by a select 
member, towards one of these. The term Ran- 
ters has been applied to them. Thus we see how 
near our doors the scene is approaching ; and 
happy for those who, agreeably to the injunction 
of the divine Master, shall see and hear these 
things, and not be troubled. But before we come 
to this, we must experience Christ so to reign in 
our hearts, that we are willing to give all up — 
reputation, right in Society, and all that man can 
deprive us of; and when we have nothing to 
lose in this world, we shall not be moved with 
fear and dismay at the signs of the times. 1 
have felt my mind much drawn in unity with our 
dear friend Elias ; his views, as mentioned in the 
Quarterly-meeting, are so consonant with my 
own, that I can give him the right hand of fellow- 
ship therein ; and would think it no hardship to 
go once more to Jericho, to see and converse 
with him. 

I have had a pressing invitation to go to Plain- 
field, to see our afflicted cousin, Sarah Shotwell, 
which, if way should open, I feel my mind at 



MARTHA SMITH. 



71 



liberty to accept; and if so, I may make thee a 
visit also ; but the wind, that bloweth where it list- 
eth, often turns my little bark contrary to whither 
I was steering ; so that there is but little depend- 
ence to be put on my outward arrangements. 
My hearty good wishes are for the preservation 
and encouragement of the honest-hearted and 
faithful, both far and near, well knowing that the 
good of the cause will be effected in proportion 
as individuals stand firm and upright in it ; that 
the burthen of some will be greatly increased, if 
others shrink from their allotted portion of labor. 
I am fully persuaded that a fresh invitation of 
divine love is now extended to the inhabitants of 
the earth ; and all that is capable of feeling 
within me, longs that we may not be the instru- 
ments of perverting the renewed blessing into an 
aggravated curse, by thwarting the designs of 
Providence, to the provoking a just and merciful 
God to anger, so as to cause the hiding of His 
face again from many to whom the ; blessing was 
intended. If we consider our Society as bound 
together in the indisssoluble bonds of a Father's 
love, we shall be continually led into doubts and 
evil surmisings, at the contrariety of opinions and 
6entiments amongst us. But when we reflect 
we are but the lineal offspring of believers, from 
whom we can inherit nothing but weakness and 
instability, yet bound together by the same out- 
ward rules, (and hence the mistaken notion, that 
all are of the same faith,) it is no way surprising 
that these divisions should take place. Nay, but 



72 LETTERS OF 

in the very nature of things they must, that is, 
they will be. How astonishing is the weakness 
and blindness of men, that they should think 
their own Society had arrived and were dwelling 
in that state of perfection to which the followers 
of Christ were called ; and if not, that it could 
be possible, according to the plans of Infinite 
"Wisdom, that we should slide into it out of our 
present state of ease and contentment, without a 
noise and commotion. Vain idea ! Never can 
such a thing be expected ; and rather than stand 
still and desire it, let us turn to the source of 
good, and seek to draw from thence that succor 
which will enable us to stand in the day of trial ; 
in the day when the elements shall clash, and all 
that can be moved shall be shaken ; when the 
heavens of man's own creating shall be rolled 
together, and vanish as a scroll. Then shall 
those whose trust is in the Lord alone, see the 
new heavens and the new earth ; all the creation 
will become new, and of God. * * 

M.S. 



LETTER XXXI. 

Solebury, 1st mo. 26, 1824. 
Dear Brother : 

Thy letter of 16th of last month came duly to 
hand, and was very acceptable, as I feel great in- 
terest in the passing events of the day, in every 
department of Society. The further I am fa- 
vored to see into the reality of the Christian 



MARTHA SMITH. 73 

religion, the more I am persuaded I have nothing 
to do with judging what is the special religious 
duty of individuals. The Master is all sufficient 
for his own work ; he can raise up and send 
forth whom he pleaseth ; and we have need to 
be very cautious in questioning the authority of 
any one, lest we be like the people of old, who 
eaid, " Is not this the carpenter's son ?" also, 
" When Messias comeih, we know not whence' 
he is." But in order to become useful in the 
Master's vineyard, we must seek to become ac- 
quainted with the language of truth ; and by 
keeping the internal ear open to that, and the 
eye single to its light, we shall be gradually in- 
structed in those things that are meet for us, and 
new things will be opened, as our capacity will 
bear tham. And we shall find plenty of employ- 
ment for the mind in contemplating the wonder- 
ful works of the Creator, and the wily stratagemsr 
of that part in man which w r as at first pronounced 
good, but became perverted ; and how it works' 
and is working, in order to get a kingdom to 
itself, and thus draw man off from his allegiance 
to his Maker. As we become thoroughly ac- 
quainted with these, we shall see not only the 
emptiness of all earthly enjoyments, but we shall 
see the ingratitude and presumption of acting 
from any other motives than pure disinterested 
love to our Heavenly Father. There is a most 
striking likeness between our individual relations 
and that of our first parents. . The fruit of the 
forbidden tree is presented to our view in so 
7 






74 LETTERS OF 

many various ways, and under so many plausi- 
ble coverings, that unwary mortals are liable to 
be drawn aside every moment, unless on their 
guard. 

Things wear a serious aspect at Trenton and 
Middletown. From the latter place Charles and 
myself have just returned; but it would take 
much time to note particulars. We dined yes- 
terday at the house of Stephen Comfort, sen. 
He and his wife are worthy friends, but they 
< have suffered themselves to be improperly bi- 
ased against Elias Hicks, and on being with 
them, I felt that secret regret which I had felt 
for some dear, goodly friends at the Eastward, 
who neither knew nor felt any harm in them- 
selves, but by listening with a carnal ear, their 
better judgment had become warped. We spent 
a few hours at Edward Hicks's, as we came 
home. He has been into Chester county, lately ; 
he met with cousin J. W., and was pleased 
with hint. 

2d mo. 19. — Thou wilt be surprised, no doubt, 
at the different dates of this letter, but no mis- 
fortune has been the cause. My time has been 
bo much engaged of late, that I scarcely know 
how it has passed. Charles and myself attended 
the Quarterly-meeting at Abington, two weeks 
ago ; also a meeting for William Foster the next 
day ; and then went into Philadelphia, where 
Charles left me the Second-day following. I 
attended all the meetings of our Society in the 
city, and Pine-street and North meetings twice 



MARTHA SMITH. 75 

over. The second time I was at Pine-street, 
four of the elders detained me in the meeting 
house, and one of them, after stating to me that 
he had been informed I was not in unity with 
my friends at home, and also that I had made 
considerable disturbance in Rhode Island, ad- 
vised me to return home and take care of my 
family ; thus practically denying the New Tes- 
tament, which abundantly sheweth that all must 
be given up for the Master's sake. A Friend, at 
my request, sat with me, and informed me she 
had listened attentively to my testimony, and 
was not uneasy with it; but it was close dealing, 
and not to be marvelled at as touching the Pha- 
risees. I was preserved, on the occasion, from 
'the paw of the lion, and also strengthened to 
pursue the path of duty afterwards. On Second- 
day evening last, I attended the Christian meet- 
ing in Southwark, with which I was well satis- 
fied. A worthy minister amongst them, Frede- 
rick Plummer, appointed the meeting, at my 
request, and attended with us. I know not 
what stir will be made about it, neither am I 
concerned; my chief desire being to know the 
Master's will, and do it. The more the truth is 
persecuted, the brighter it shines, and the more 
desirable to be attained. Let us obey the in- 
junction of the Master : " Beware of the leaven 
of the Pharisees. " I conceive this is very im- 
portant, and that there is no way to avoid this 
leaven but by strict obedience to manifested 
duty. Third-day I was favored to rise over all 



76 LETTERS OF 

opposition to the truth, I think, more than ever 
I had before. After I sat down, Othniel Alsop 
spoke from the passage of our Saviour taking 
the little child, and setting it in the midst, as an 
emblem of the -state we must come into, before 
we can enter the kingdom. The text was so 
good, and so well handled at first, that I never 
thought of his being an opposer. After he sat 
down, and another friend gave information of a 
meeting for William Foster, to be held the next 
evening, I kneeled ; when, to the astonishment 
of the people, most of those in the galleries 
kept their seats, and one man was actually 
pulled down after he had risen. If they had 
all sat still, I do not think I should have felt it; 
for such was the boldness with which the truth 
inspired me, and knowing I had many friends 
there, the shafts of the enemy fell at my feet. 
.Three of the elders were in pursuit of me in 
the afternoon, and called twice at my lodgings, 
but I unknowingly escaped them, at which I felt 
regret ; for if there had been full opportunity for 
them to discharge themselves, it is possible they 
might have shot away all their arrows, and then 
give up the contest ; especially if there was firm- 
ness enough on the other side to maintain the 
ground. It has been an incalculable injury, 
both to individuals and Society, that this ground 
has been given up, at the approach of the 
enemy. I have, during this visit, made a valu- 
able acquisition to my little circle of friends. I 
hope the many favors I have received will act 



MARTHA SMITH. 77 

as a stimulus to further dedication ; and that 
until there is a better way cast up in my mind, 
I may be strengthened to walk by the same rule, 
and mind the same thing, as hitherto. 

M.S. 



LETTER XXXII. 

Trenton, 3d mo. 11, 1824. 
Dear Brother : 

Being now on my way to New- York, I think 
best to send thee a few lines, in order that thou 
may meet me at the wharf on landing. I expect 
to leave this place on Seventh -day morning 
next, in the line that lodges at New Brunswick ; 
of course I must land in the city on First-day 
morning. If thou wilt be so kind as to inform 
thyself of the time and place of landing, it 
would be particularly grateful to meet thee 
there. I left home on Seventh-day last, with 
my husband, and have been closely engaged 
since, in attending some meetings and visiting 
some of my friends. As I am coming in my 
usual way, without a written certificate, I know 
not how my friends in New-York will look upon 
me ; but if thou canst endure the cross of it, I 
fear no other consequence. And if thou shouldst 
even be constrained to disown me, how much less 
will it be than the blessed Master had to en- 
dure ! To-morrow William Foster has an ap- 
pointed meeting here. I have been at three 
meetings where he was, within a short time, at 
7* 



78 LETTERS OF 

each of which I found it my duty to bear testi- 
mony to the truth. I have felt very desirous 
that I might not come in contact with him again ; 
but this desire has been forced to yield to supe- 
rior persuasion in my own mind ; and though I 
feel it my place to be willing, so far as it may 
be put in my power, to " lay a shoulder to the 
wheel," yet my nature often has to go into deep 
suffering before I am brought into that state. 
And though it is my lot to go, time after time, 
into the furnace, may I never be released from 
this dispensation till the purifying operation is 
effected. I feel at times as though the heavens 
and the earth were vanishing away, and all was 
becoming empty space ; but when I recollect 
that the new heavens and the new earth were 
to succeed the passing away of the old, I am 
encouraged to faith and patience. It is an im- 
portant day, " a day of rebuke, a day of treading 
down, and of dismay ;" but the sincere and faith- 
ful followers of the Lamb also know an arising 
at times, as from the dead, the shadows to flee 
away, and the morning of the sun of righteous- 
ness to arise in their hearts, clearly manifesting 
that the Lord is a strong tower, whereunto they 
may flee and find safety. 

Unless something unexpected occurs, I hope 
to pursue my prospect on Seventh-day ; but if I 
do not come, I hope thou wilt feel no uneasiness 
on my account. I have many kind friends here, 
with whom I am banded in suffering and re- 
joicing. M. S. 



MARTHA SMIYF. 79 

LETTER XXXIII. 

SoULury, 3d mo. 28, 1824. 
Dear Brother : 

* # # # *\y e arrived at 

Trenton about nine o'clock at night, and I num- 
ber it among the many favors, that I was kindly 
received at the house of my friend T. Sterling. 
His wife was on a visit a few doors off; and 
when she returned, late as it was in the evening, 
and also rainy, she accompanied me to see Han- 
nah Stokes. Found her not so well as when I 
left her before. Lodged there that night. Next 
day turned my thoughts anxiously towards 
Pennsylvania, but saw no way to escape attend- 
ing the week-day meeting, which is held on 
Fifth-day. I found my peace in so doing, and 
on that, as on many other occasions, was made 
to blush at my presumption and ingratitude, in 
suffering a thought so far to enter my mind as 
to form any thing like a wish of my own. New 
Bedford has long been presented to my mind, at 
times ; and in such a manner, on setting out for 
New- York, that I ventured to stipulate, that if 
permitted to return, and get my family moved 
and settled, I would give up. This was more 
than I had ever ventured to do before, on feeling 
a divine requisition, and it has gone experi- 
mentally to prove to my mind the folly of look- 
ing forward to a more convenient season, as 
most assuredly such a one will never arrive. If 
then we were to set about becoming subject 
to the divine will, instead of saying, " I pray 



80 LETTERS OP 

thee, have me excused," how much easier the 
work would go on ; for we need not expect to 
have things brought into unison with our vain 
wills ; therefore the more we strive to counteract 
those wills, with their varied workings, the 
sooner will the conflict between flesh and spirit 
be over, and we come to the experience of light 
and liberty, that I fully believe we were de- 
signed to enjoy, even in this mutable state of 
existence, I hope the bond of love will con- 
tinue to strengthen all those who sincerely name 
the name of Jesus. I attended our meeting to- 
day, and was met with a hearty welcome by a 
number of our members. The disciplinarians 
have not molested me yet. If they do, I will 
inform thee thereof. I have no fear on that score, 
as to myself alone ; and if the All-wise Ruler 
permits my right of membership to be taken 
away, for my fidelity to Him, I doubt not that 
he will restore to me four-fold in peace of mind. 
There have been some ridiculous stories cir- 
culated about me of late, and some of my friends 
have been hurt not a little by them ; but who- 
ever the authors or promulgators were, I feel 
nothing but good will in my heart to any on that 
account ; and thus will the evil design of the ad- 
versary be frustrated ; for where no malice is, his 
Are will not kindle. This is a desirable attain- 
ment, and a very possible one, though not to be 
come at without great humility, and a steady 
perseverance in what we believe to be right. 
Would that all mankind understood their best 



MARTHA SMITH. 81 

interest, and were willing to pursue it. "What 
an Eden would this world become ! What 
harmony would reign, not only between man 
and man, but also between man and the lower 
orders of creation. Cruelty and oppression 
towards every grade of these would cease ; and 
man, becoming deified through perfect obedi- 
ence, would shine again in his Creator's image. 
I hope thou wilt not think me enthusiastic, as 
no doubt many would ; but we may remember 
Paul was thought to be beside himself, for his 
report of the heavenly vision ; and we need not 
think hard if we are sometimes thought to be 
fanatical. M. S. 



LETTER XXXIV. 

Philadelphia, 4th mo. 24, 1824. 
Dear Brother : 

I have felt a good deal for thee within a week 
past, from a sense of the anxiety thou must 
suffer, from the various foolish reports that may 
reach thee, and which I know of no better way 
to obviate, than to inform thee I am in the per- 
fect enjoyment of my senses ; also blessed in the 
approbation, as well as affection, of my husband, 
and also of many friends, however rumor may 
Bay to the contrary. But what is much more 
than all, through the favor of divine aid, my 
mind is borne above the tide of conflicting re- 
port, evil surmising, and false rumor ; so that it 
is all become a source of instruction to me ; and 



82 LETTERS OP 

r except in that way, I do not think any passing 
events of the day worth mentioning, Charles 
and myself left home on Sixth-day preceding 
the Yearly-meeting; came on and lodged that 
night at Benjamin Sleeper's ; Seventh-day after- 
noon went to pay a visit to our friends M. Rotch 
and M. Newhall. Our interesting friend, An- 
drew Robeson, is with them. I esteem it a 
singular providence that they have been drawn 
here at this time, and my heart has been bowed 
in reverence to that divine Power, which ia 
bringing the church once more up out of the 
wilderness, " leaning upon the breast of her be- 
loved ; fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and 
terrible as an army with banners ;" even so ter- 
rible to the formal professors, that confusion and 
consternation of heart is overwhelming them, to 
that degree, that the disorder has become visible 
to the outward eye. I refer thee to the record 
of the New Testament. Acts xix : 23, to the 
end. But when this tumultuous uproar of con- 
tending passions in the minds of the people will 
be completed, we cannot at present foresee ; but 
I believe they are not only in danger of being 
called to an account for this day's uproar, but 
inany will have to give an account at a higher 
tribunal than that of men, even at the judgment 
seat of G-ocL I attended the first sitting of the 
Yearly-meeting, and had some uncouth (to the 
carnal ear) observations to make. At the next 
sitting, I was constrained to testify against the 
superficial formality of the epistles from Rhode 



MARTHA SMITH. 83 

Island and Baltimore to this meeting ; with the 
addition of some close remarks on the state of 
Society ; for which I was interrupted, and de- 
sired by name to sit down, by an elder of Buck- 
ingham Monthly-meeting; which, however, I 
obeyed not, till I had in a measure relieved my 
mind. I am thus particular, from an expecta- 
tion that thou wouldst hear something of the 
circumstance. Third-day, I attended, and on 
rising to speak, was pulled by the skirt to sit 
down, but fairly got through before I obeyed. 
Fourth-day meeting was occupied mostly by A. 
Braithwaite, who was remarkably fluent in. 
expression, but her ministry carried not that 
convictive evidence that P. Hunt's did, to my 
mind. Fifth-day, I felt excused from attending 
any of the public meetings ; and in the after- 
noon, through- divine aid, so far relieved my 
mind, that I attended no more of the sittings of 
the Yearly -meeting. I have been visiting some 
of the brethren, since. Charles attended all 
the sittings, and returned home on Seventh- day, 
on the afternoon of which, I went to Gloucester, 
with some of the society called Christians, and 
attended their meeting yesterday morning, in 
which I was favored with best help and conso- 
lation. The meeting was held in a school-house, 
by a little band of plain, simple hearted people. 
In the afternoon, I went to the meeting of the 
same people at Southwark. I became very much 
revived and comforted, in this little intermission 
from hard labor amongst a stiff necked people, 



84 LETTERS OP 

but expect I shall have to return to it again, be- 
fore long. I may now inform thee, my present 
business seems to be to visit some families with 
whom I am acquainted, and return the last of 
this week, by way of the Falls, and reach home 
this day week. I also expect, at present, to be 
at New- York at the time of the Yearly-meeting, 
and proceed from thence to New Bedford. I 
providentially met with Lucy Gilpin this morn- 
ing, by whom I write. And now, desiring thy 
mind may become established, so that thou shalt 
know, in this wonderful day, big with important 
events, the following lines to be true — 

!* His hand the good man fastens on the skies, 
And bids earth roll, nor feels her idle whirl/' 

I bid thee, affectionately, farewell. My love to 
friends of all classes, where occasion may occur 
to speak of me. M. S. 



LETTER XXXV. 

New- York, 5th mo. 25, 1824. 
Dear Charles : 

I embarked on board the steamboat at the 
time expected, amidst a large number of pro- 
fessing Friends, who came on in the stages from 
Philadelphia, amongst whom were RachelJohn- 
son, and Samuel Fisher's daughter Sarah, and a 
Friend named Thomas M'Clintock, who accosted 
me in a very friendly manner soon after we en- 
tered, his wife being also on board. They had 



I 



MARTHA SMITH. B£ 

once called at B. Dorsey's to see me, but I was 
not in. We had a very pleasant passage, and 
struck the wharf about sunset. Brother G. had 
written me a letter, directed to Doylestown, re- 
questing information how and when I was 
coming ; and as he had received no answer, he 
concluded I had given out coming, and so was 
not looking for me ; but Elijah Fish kindly came 
with me to the boarding-house. I went that 
night to my former friend y W. Pearsall's, and 
lodged. Next morning went to meeting at the 
new house in Rose-street, My feelings were 
awfully impressed on seeing Isaac Stevenson 
and Anna Braithwaite, with many more on that 
side ; and Elias Hicks, Priscilla Hunt, and many 
others of the like mind, arranged in the galle- 
ries. As I sat at some distance, in the opposite 
range, and a secret cry was raised that the Lord 
would be with and support his own, Anna com- 
menced speaking, and had continued for some 
time, when I observed Richard Mott leave his 
seat, and go out. After a little time, "Willet 
Hicks also withdrew ; about which time, a con- 
fusion arose near the front door. On turning 
my head, I saw a number of men rise, at which 
I supposed some alarming indisposition had hap- 
pened to Richard. Anna, who was still on her 
feet, requested the people to be calm ; but the 
confusion increased, with a cry of fire. I did 
not feel alarmed, though the women all around 
me were risen, till a louder cry ensued, and a 
voice vehemently exclaimed, "Why don't they 
8 



86 LETTERS OP 

come outT' while other voices echoed, "The 
building is falling/ ' This moment evinced the 
inherent impulse of the heart for self-preserva- 
tion, and I hastily moved toward one of the 
doors ; and getting wedged into the crowd, I was 
pushed in great measure along, till fairly out, 
without the least harm, while many others were 
sorely bruised ; some, falling down, were tram- 
pled on the stairs ; but none that I have heard of 
were dangerously hurt, though the escapes of 
some were very providential. Many affrighted, 
were ready to jump out of the windows, in the 
upper story ; some fainting, others screaming — 
that the scene was truly awful, nor can it be de- 
scribed. It appears the building was not thought, 
by many, to be sufficiently supported in the base- 
ment story ; that being new, and having never 
been tried with such a weight before, some were 
actually restrained from going to meeting for 
fear. A number of seats being wanted to fill up 
the passages, the friends, on going below for 
benches, became alarmed at the cracking of the 
timbers, and one of them refused to enter again. 
Being thus alarmed, and at a loss how to act, 
Richard Mott was called out, and requested to 
return and break up the meeting ; but on view- 
ing the danger it seemed unsafe to re-enter ; but 
going to one of the doors, he requested those to 
come out who sat on the failing part. Supposing 
the report of the circumstance might reach thee 
in an alarming shape, some other way, I thought 



MARTHA SMITH, 87 

best to give it thee in the way I saw, felt, and 
received it from good authority. * * * 
# # * Feeling an important necessity of 
having my mind redeemed from all created 
things, and centred in the Lord alone, I commit 
you all to his care, with a renewed belief, that 
to the soul thus given up, all will be well, and 
an humble desire that He will be with thee, the 
dear children, and all my dear friends, no less 
than with my own soul, to keep us in His holy 
fear, and a watchful care not to offend against 
His righteous law, as made known in the secret 
of our hearts. M. S. 



LETTER XXXVI. 

New- Yorh, 6th mo. 1, 1824. 
Dear Charles : 

After enduring a trying conflict, I have been 
favored to arise as out of the pit, and to feel 
something like singing on the banks of deliver- 
ance ; and then could I feelingly say, how good 
it is to be faithful. It is indeed, I fully believe, 
as I think I wrote thee before, the source of all 
my difficulties — this faithless fear of man, which 
arises from want of faith in the Creator; for I 
can say that when my mind is given up, and the 
eye thereof steadily fixed on the great First 
Cause, all outward barriers diminish, and I am 
borne as on eagle's wings, above the contending 
elements of affection, fear or envy. But when 
I give way to the two first of those passions, (for 



DO BETTERS OP 

the last, if I know my own heart, I am not tried 
with often,) it brings a kind of veil over me, that 
I seem to see every one's hand against me, and 
that my hand, or rather my views, are against 
every one ; and thus the very thing that I feel 
desirous to avoid, comes upon me. This morn- 
ing I attended Monthly-meeting, and was fa- 
vored to bear my testimony to the truth, and 
also to supplicate the support and direction of 
the divine Power, in all of which I found that 
support ; and through the mercy of the Lord, I 
feel there is a reality in these things. But, dear 
friends, one and all, if there is a spark of pride 
in any of your hearts, as to my name amongst 
men, strive to have it done away ; for the right 
way of the Lord, as manifested to my mind, is 
evil spoken of here ; and to be faithful unto him, 
I must hazard the censure of man. I feel desi- 
rous that thou in particular shouldst be enabled 
to see the wisdom of Providence in these things, 
and become reconciled in thy mind thereto. I 
have been favored with entire calmness of mind, 
as respects my family, though perhaps I never 
knew the preciousness of their preservation 
more. Not seeing the way open to proceed, I 
am likely to continue here yet longer. M. S. 



LETTER XXXVII. 

New- York, 6th mo. 8, 1824. 
Dear Charles : 

Yesterday I visited a colored man in prison, 
who is condemned to be executed on Sixth-day 



MARTHA SMITH* 89 

next. I, with a pious methodist, who had visited 
him a number of times, spent perhaps an hour 
and a half with him. He expressed an anxious 
desire to leave a world of which he is weary ; 
compared the situation of his mind two months 
since, When he Was running at large, with his 
present condition ; the latter being far preferable* 
In short, there was a calm to be felt in his room, 
that I almost regretted to leave. While I sat 
there, I was somewhat overcome with a reproof 
in mind, for not persevering to visit Johnson, who 
was in the same prison, under the same sentence, 
when I was in New-York in Third month last j 
having felt the same inclination thereto which 
drew me to the present interview, but through 
human weakness, gave way, without making the 
least attempt to accomplish what might have 
been a memorable lesson to myself, as also to 
many others. I am renewedly persuaded in my 
own mind, that there is the most presumptuous 
degradation offered to the divine character, by 
finite man, in spending much time and breath in 
deploring the situation, and drawing conclusions 
from the actions, of what is considered the de* 
praved part of mankind ;— a weakness which 
can never be more beautifully and emphatically 
reproved, than it was by the Saviour, when the 
Woman taken in adultery was presented before 
him. If we would always bring our own actions 
to the light, and compare our faithfulness with 
the measure received, and then draw a compari- 
son between our merits and divine mercy, it 
8* 



90 LETTERS OF 

seems to me the best amongst us would not be 
able to accuse a brother. I have little more to 
write. I leave George to givejthe particulars of 
my setting out for New Bedford. I have thought 
sometimes of giving thee some details of the 
transactions of the day, as to what is called or- 
der, religion, and propriety; but feeling anxious 
above all things to be established on that rock 
which cannot be moved, I pass them by, and can 
say to those who persecute the servants of the 
Lord, " Forgive them ; they know not what they 
do." I have abundant cause to rejoice in all 
things that are meted out to me, and especially 
so in that which is hard to flesh and blood. Once 
more I commend thee, and all my dearest of be- 
loveds, to that Providence which has never failed 
or deceived me, and remain thy affectionate wife. 

M. S. 



LETTER XXXVIII. 

New-York, 7th mo. 11, 1824. 
Dear Charles : 

I will return to where I closed my last letter,* 
and inform thee that I remained at New Bed- 
ford till the 6th instant. My time was employed 
in visiting the children of Faith — those who see 
the necessity of leaving all outward dependence, 
and relying on the internal light for direction ; 
one of which was Experience Sherman, upwards 
of seventy years of age. I attended a meeting 

* This letter, with some others, has been lost. 



MARTHA SMITH. 91 

in the old Quaker meeting-house, on Second-day 
evening at six o'clock. It was a precious parting 
scene with those who are banded together in love. 
Moses Howe, a minister of the Christian Soci- 
ety, was one with us; and notwithstanding the 
commotion of the day, it being Fourth of July, 
it was remarkably quiet, both within and without. 
Third-day morning, left my friends in the same 
feeling of cheerful friendship that we met, and 
came with Thomas Arnold to his house in North 
Providence. He is another instance in advanced 
life, of looking beyond the forms that enthralled 
his earlier days, into the living substance. I re- 
mained in the neighborhood until Seventh-day, 
visiting a number of Friends who had come to a 
measure of the same experience, among whom 
were two daughters and a son of Job Scott. I 
visited the latter at the old homestead of his 
father. In the afternoon, James Scott conveyed 
me to the steamboat ; and, leaving all the dear 
friends I had found in that land, with the peace- 
ful evidence, that though separated in person, 
our spirits were mingled together in the one 
great Source of Love, I had nothing to do with 
the past, and nothing to fear from the future, but 
simply to dwell in the present moment. After 
suffering much from sea-sickness, with most of 
the female passengers, we all got asleep, and 
were thankful to meet a beautiful morning again 
in the world. By raising my head from the pil- 
low, I could see the sun rising in all his splendid 
pomp out of the sea ; and though our progress 



92 LETTERS OF 

through the night had been very rapid, owing to 
detention at New Haven we did not get up to 
New-York till after eight o'clock in the evening. 
We had a full view of that tremendous gulf 
called Hurlgate, which we passed with conside* 
rable exertion, a little before sunset ; the rocks, 
from the state of the tide, being but about eight 
feet under water. I cannot give thee an idea of 
the rolling and foaming convulsions that were 
seen on the suiface, and for a long distance on 
either side, with numerous whirlpools, like boil- 
ing cauldrons, continually presenting to the eye 
the wonders of nature. 

* * * But in this, as well as every 
thing else, I feel that resignation to the divine 
will, which I have long been striving for ; and 
this has sustained my mind amid the fluctuating 
scenes I have passed through in this visit. It 
really rejoiced me to hear Frederick Plummer 
had been to see thee ; and I hope I shall ever 
rejoice to know that the servants of the Lord can 
find reception in thy heart and house ; for I have 
much to be thankful for to Him who provides for 
the ravens, in opening my way with those to 
whom I was personally a stranger. Commend- 
ing you all to the grace of God, and His protec- 
tion, I bid you farewell. M. S. 

LETTER XXXIX. 

New Bedford, Sth mo. 29, 1S24. 
Dear Husband : 

* * * On visiting a family living near 
the beach, I was desirous to go to it, which I did, 



arAnTHA swtith. 93 

and felt a renewed awe on observing the break- 
ers rising in continual succession to a certain 
height, then foaming like the fall of a mighty 
cataract, and rolling in to the very edge. Won- 
derful, indeed, appeared to me that winder in 
creation, the stupendous ocean! Nor less to be 
admired is the capacious mind of man, calculated 
for improvement to the highest degree, even so 
as to comprehend the vast designs of Omnipo- 
tence, and trace in those outward evidences 
thereof, the more minute arrangement of its in- 
ternal texture. I am more and more convinced 
there never was nor ever will be a man, who, 
through the whole course of life, ever disbelieved 
in the existence of a God, and the revelation of 
his own pure spirit in the heart. Will not all 
confess there must be a first cause, a moving 
principle, which man, as a mere animal, cannot 
comprehend ; that there are but two spirits — 
light and darkness, good and evil; that all good 
must flow from the Source of good, and conse- 
quently, all evil from its own source. 

I went alone to Lynn meeting on First-day 
morning, and sat in silence, a spectator of the 
perverted order of things there ; but it was no 
more to me than it would have been to have seen 
the same transactions in any other place. All 
kind of solemnity, as to a meeting of public wor- 
ship, having fled, it seemed more like a house 
of correction ; for though there were no blows, 
nor outward violence, there were ten or twelve 
persons rose in succession to silence M. Alley 



94 LETTERS OP 

from speaking, which she bore with undaunted 
patience and meek submission, and at length 
left the house. I went again in the afternoon, 
but did not stay through their ceremonies. I can 
make no calculation as to getting home, but it 
certainly will not be for some time yet, unless I 
feel turned from the fulfilment of my first pros- 
pects, which, with every thing else, I leave to the 
Lord. I believe the time has fully come, when 
those who do not go forward will go backward ; 
and I felt a little anxious, at times, thou should 
not be one of that number. But I see more and 
more clearly, I must give all up, and be willing 
for the Lord to work in his own way. I have 
seen it was best for me that I came in the way I 
did ; that my so doing may strengthen those who 
are trusting in the wisdom from above, and its 
directions ; for herein it is manifested to be all- 
sufficient for those who will believe ; and those 
who will not, I have nothing more to do with 
than simply to show by a line of conduct that 
their standard will not do for me. M. S. 



LETTER XL. 

West Grove, 9th mo. 20, 1824. 
Dear Husband : 

* * # * I do not feel the spring 
of action for writing much, and therefore I de* 
sire thou and all our friends may seek to become 
settled in that faith and assurance which will 
support the soul in all its trials; and though 



MARTHA SMITH. 95 

every avenue of human consolation is obstructed, 
a union and communion with the Creator, and a 
communion with the saints in light, will be 
known and felt, affording joy and consolation 
that the world knows not of, and as it does not 
give, it cannot take away. * * * 

M.S. 



LETTER XLI. 

Philadelphia, 10th mo. 8, 1824. 
Dear Brother : 

# * # When I shall be ready to leave 
this, I know not ; but feel at present ready to 
move in any direction the Lord shall open the 
way. I feel more and more released from all 
Society care or sectarian notions ; and that very 
law in which I have been educated, and the 
creed which I have subscribed to, are no more 
to me than a mere mess of pottage, for which I 
hope I shall never sell a birthright in the truth. 
I had much satisfaction with cousin J. W., whose 
sentiments so entirely coincide with my own, in 
all things with regard to religion, that he was as 
a brother in the truth. Some of my other con- 
nexions, to whom I had before felt nearly united, 
did not feel so now; and some others, from whom 
I expected to meet with coldness and rebuke, 
were much more free and open than heretofore. 
Thus was I a little disappointed on all sides ; but 
thanks to the Dispenser of all good, these things 
ere of minor importance to me. Knowing I 



I 



96 LETTERS OF 

must be weaned from the love of them all, I care 
not how soon they are taken away, even all those 
things in which my soul delighteth after the 
flesh. I have been at Twelfth-street and Arch- 
street meetings, where I spoke without interrup- 
tion. Last evening had a free, precious meet- 
ing with the Christians, at their meeting-house. 
I omitted to tell thee that the day before I 
left home, I attended our week-day meeting, and 
was relieved from a burthen, by testifying the 
truth in plain terms, which raised the spirit of 
opposition in some of the rulers; but I was* 
raised above all, in that power which is over all. 
May the God of all comfort be thy consolation, 
is the prayer of thy sister. M. S. 



LETTER XLII. 

Plumstead, 10th mo. 19, 1824. 
Dear Brother : 

We received thine of the 12th, this day, and 
are much obliged for thy intelligence of the state 
of affairs with you. I rejoice at every instance 
of open display of Anti-christian spirit in this 
day ; for so sure as it does exist, so sure it must 
be destroyed; and it will not fall till its measure 
of iniquity is full. Therefore, seeing that things 
in their very nature must operate in this way, 
well may those rejoice therein who have no lot 
nor portion in the present inheritance. I heard 
the printed letter of E. H., with its preface, the 
night before I left the city ; but that of A. B. I 



MARTHA SMITH. 97 

have not heard. These must certainly cause an 
additional excitement, and carry conviction to 
some that seem determined not to believe there 
is any real disunity among the great heads, so 
called ; or at least not to seem to acknowledge 
it to some of the lesser branches of the house. 
I have been at meeting at Solebury to-day, where 
I had a comfortable time, and was treated with 
great freedom and kindness, except by a few 
elderites. We are looking a little for Frederick 
Plummer to-morrow. He is to be at Addisville 
on Sixth-day evening, and if mother is so that I 
can leave her, I intend going down. There is 
an openness for the truth in some of those out- 
skirts amongst mankind, that I do not find among 
the honorables in high profession. I have un- 
derstood some of our most liberal ones have de- 
claimed loudly against T. W.'s little treatise, or 
address, and suppose it came from H. Barton's 
* cabinet. Poor New-lights ! so called, how will 
all classes join, as it were with one consent, to 
stigmatise and condemn you. But if the Lord 
is on your side, it matters not. Our creation 
having been for a purpose of God's glory, the 
greater the trials and difficulties we have to en- 
counter, so much more will that glory be made 
manifest ; because nothing but the arm of the 
Lord, which is His ability, vouchsafed to man, 
will bear the soul through and over all opposi- 
tion ; and therefore the greater the opposition, so 
much more conspicuous will be the power that 
can withstand it. It was the will of God that 
9 



98 LETTERS OP 

Israel should be delivered from bondage by a 
small band, led on by Gideon, so that the people 
might have no cause to glory, save in him alone ; 
and thus, through mighty hosts of enemies, both 
in an individual and society capacity, this little 
band or seed, even that which has obtained vie* 
tory with God, will be the redeemer from carnal 
captivity. 

Please remember me to those friends who are 
honestly disposed, and do not turn away with 
every breeze of air that blows from the adverse 
quarter. M. S. 



LETTER XLIII. 

Philadelphia, 11th mo. 1, 1824. 
Dear Brother : 

I felt much interested in the contents of thy 
last. Every event that now takes place (of any 
consequence,) is fraught with instruction to an 
eye of Faith ; and I seem to trace with peculiar 
interest, the sometimes slow, but not less certain 
steps, and sometimes rapid strides, of Anti-chris- 
tian intrigue and intolerance, that must yet be 
multiplied, as the plagues of Egypt were, before 
the measure will be completely filled up, and 
man will see and acknowledge that it is the 
mighty power of the living God that is display- 
ing itself in these things. It is a great and im- 
portant epoch in this world, in which mankind 
universally, in a more direct or remote degree, 
are deeply interested. A long, laborious and 



MARTHA SMITH. 99 

proving struggle has commenced, between the 
powers of earth and Heaven. All that has yet 
taken place is but the beginning of sorrows. As 
man is disturbed and driven from one refuge, he 
flies to another, but the Lord alone will be found 
to be a safe refuge in the day of trial that is cer- 
tainly progressing. Every prop and support but 
those of His power will be taken away ; parents 
and children, brethren and sisters, husbands and 
wives, rent asunder. I can but marvel at and 
magnify the goodness of the Lord, for the deli- 
verance I have experienced, in the calmness and 
confidence with which I see and contemplate 
those passing and approaching events ; though I 
often feel as if the few trials I have yet experi- 
enced, may be nothing in comparison with those 
in store for me. Confiding in that power which 
has brought me thus far, I have no reason to 
doubt its sufficiency for the time to come. I 
was at Green-street and North meetings yes- 
terday, where I spoke without public opposition. 
I attended the Christian meeting last evening, 
and a heart-tendering time it was to those who 
can rejoice in the Lord, whose goodness and 
mercy were magnified and commended by many 
voices, both in testimony and spiritual songs. 
This day is the Quarterly-meeting in the city, 
which I am going to attend. I have some other 
places of social worship in view, and know not 
when I shall leave the place. My lodging is at 
our kind friend Benedict Dorsey's. 



100 LETTERS OP 

Third-day, the 2d. — I attended Quarterly- 
meeting, and was raised so far above all fear but 
the true fear, that I fulfilled my duty in plain 
terms, and came off victorious. It was a solemn, 
quiet meeting. It appears to me that the mist 
of tradition hangs like a veil before the eyes of 
our Orthodox friends, and they mistake this So- 
ciety for the chosen people, and the order thereof 
for the mind of Truth. And no marvel that, 
thus blinded, they should seek zealously to main- 
tain the cause thereof; but what is generally 
termed the Orthodoxy, are not alone in these 
things ; nay, almost all, especially of the active 
part, are thus blinded. They had a warm de- 
bate yesterday, in the men's Quarterly-meeting, 
concerning the transactions of Green-street 
meeting, with regard to those two elders who 
opposed E. H. so particularly when here. No 
doubt a statement of the debate will be sent on 
to New- York. These things go to confirm my 
mind of their necessity, in the pulling down of 
those mighty fabrics, the systems of men, that 
now stand in the way of the building of a pure, 
spiritual church on earth. I spent last evening 
at the house of a friend, in company with F. 
Plummer and wife, with a few others, where 
brotherly love flowed sweetly, as from vessel to 
vessel, and we were mutually comforted and en- 
couraged to trust in the Lord, by whose " grace 
we could say we are what we are. ,, 

6th of the month. — I went in company with 
some of the brethren, last Fourth-day, down the 



MARTHA SMITH. 101 

river, thirteen miles, where we had an evening 
meeting among the Christians. Next day, at- 
tended the week-day meeting at Darby. The 
sweet impressions of life, liberty and love, expe- 
rienced among a free, seeking people, the nighfc 
before, had not left me, and after sitting some 
time under it, I arose to speak from this text: 
"How good and how pleasant a thing it is for 
brethren to dwell together in unity." But no 
sooner had I repeated the text, than a damp 
came over my feelings, and though I went on to 
show how this unity was to be kept up, and love 
amongst brethren preserved, which was by all 
living in subjection to the will and mind of the 
Parent, all I said seemed to come back to my 
own bosom, and without continuing as the open- 
ing appeared before I arose, I sat down. A man 
then spoke concerning the blessed state of the 
righteous. After he sat down, a move was made 
to break the meeting, but not acceded to ; and 
after some time F. Plummer arose, with a kind 
of apology for this text : " He that hath a dream,' f 
&c. He went on deliberately to show the gos- 
pel privilege of all, to declare those things that 
were made known to them, and also that it was 
our privilege to distinguish betwixt the wheat 
and the chaff', betwixt a dream and a reality. 
There was a solemnity and firmness in his ex- 
pression ; and though, I doubt not, some endea- 
vored to brave themselves against its effects, I 
think they could not get over the truth of what 
he said, nor the authority in which he spoke it, 
9* 



102 LETTERS OP 

in any other way than the determinate idea that 
none but Quakers speak from the immediate in- 
fluence of the Holy Spirit. After meeting, 
Frederick was invited to dine with some of the 
great heads of the meeting, and as I stood by, I 
was also included, I felt more like dining with 
an humble-looking sister, where we left our 
horse, but yielded to the solicitation of my friend, 
and we all went to the great house. They soon 
attacked I. S. on the old score of not being a 
member, and the great danger of standing with- 
out the pale. He meekly bore it all, without 
much reply, only expressing the peace he had 
experienced since his disownment. They next 
attacked Frederick, in a very pleasant and free 
manner, which he bore and rallied with all the 
ease and Christian sweetness of an upright 
mind ; but as he afterwards observed, he thought 
they were whipping others over his back. I be- 
lieve it was so, and that in fact, I was the object 
of their chastisement. After leaving there, we 
«pent an hour in the forementioned place, and 
then came into town, I am now waiting to be 
bidden, or see the Master's motion. I could 
wish that it were liberty of conscience, and free- 
dom in the truth, that the two great parties were 
contending for, instead of certain rules and 
points of doctrine ; for if they split upon these, 
each party will still have their traditions. Yet 
I hope some will escape through the split, and 
come out clear; but they must, that is, they will, 
contend about these things, while they think 
them of so much consequence. M. S. 



MARTHA SMITH. 103 

LETTER XLIV. 
Millville, Columbia Co, N. Y., 2d mo. 2, 1825. 

Dbar Charles : 

After finishing my last letter to thee on the 
31st ult., 1 mused a good deal on returning home- 
ward, and in company with my friends J. C. 
Dean and S. Dean, have visited a number of 
places; among others, Hudson, where we arrived 
at two o'clock. Called at Peter Barnard's, and 
spent two hours, during which time We were at- 
tentively listening to his wife, Hannah, as she 
related many things that transpired when she 
Was in England, with the proceedings of Society 
against her, to her final expulsion therefrom. I 
forbear to make ar.y remarks upon these things, 
knowing that the pen cannot do justice thereto ; 
that minds hedged in on all sides by traditional 
notions of religion, cannot comprehend the se^ 
cret workings of Christ or Anti-christ ; and also 
that when the mind is illuminated by an eye of 
faith in the great First Cause, His operations will 
be seen and traced with silent admiration and 
humble reverence, far beyond what written testi- 
monials can inspire. 

And now I may state, in regard to what I have 
written of occurrences concerning myself, since 
I Jeft my habitation, that it has been entirely un- 
interesting to me ; but as thou and my particular 
friends might be anxious to hear something of 
my getting along, I have done it, and the broken 
manner in which I have written, may speak for 



104 LETTERS OP 

me in that respect ; for it is quite a task for me 
to write. Feeling as I do the great commotions 
among men, I am glad to retire within the quiet 
of my own mind, at all possible seasons, simply 
doing what I feel to be my religious duty, from 
time to time, and commit the event, both as to 
myself and others, into the hands of an all- wise 
disposer of events, a reliance on whose overruling 
providence, mercy and justice, continues to be 
the stay and support of my soul, my hope of pre- 
servation and restorer of all things, even every 
thing that is best for me. Unto this never-fail- 
ing source of peace and happiness I commend 
all whom I love, which are not only thou, my 
dear children, parents, brethren and sisters, after 
the flesh, but the whole human race. And I 
have no doubt that the way and manner would 
be pointed out to all, if there was attention given 
to Christ knocking at the heart, and he was per- 
mitted to come in and reign there. But these 
knocks are so often disregarded, often not even 
noticed, from the multitude of other cares that 
occupy the mind, insomuch that the heavenly vi- 
sitor waits long, often repeating his knocks ; yet 
man does not realise the favor ; and those invi- 
tations of love tend rather to frustrate than pro- 
mote his happiness, because they interrupt his 
dreams of earthly felicity. I had come to a 
conclusion to return home, and my affectionate 
feelings wrought strongly to that effect, but 
having arrived at Coxsackie, my determination 
began to waver, and my mind again felt at home 



MARTHA SMITH. 105 

in a strange land. I can therefore do no less 
than avail myself of the present opportunity of 
doing whatsoever the Master may point out to 
me, not only in this lamentably degenerate So- 
ciety, but also among others, not of this fold. 

It appears there will be no difficulty in getting 
around to a number of meetings, and a Friend 
kindly offers to conduct me back, when ready, as 
far or further than Pleasant Valley. I had no 
expectation of going on into Canada, unless 
thou shouldst see thy way to accompany me ; 
and if so, being as I was thus far on the way, 
and finding there were friends of the truth in its 
simplicity, scattered pretty well on in that direc- 
tion, it might be attended with less difficulty to 
continue on, than to return and have to go there 
tiext summer. But as I said in a former letter, 
as there are no impossibilities required, I feel re- 
signed, and trust all will work together for good. 

M. S. 



LETTER XLV. 

Plmnstead, 3d mo. 15, 1825. 
Dear Brother : 

"We got safe to J. Shotwell's the same evening 
after parting with thee ; met a kind welcome 5 
left early next morning, and without any difffc 
culty except bad roads, reached Joseph Reeders*, 
on this side New Hope, before nine o'clock at 
night. Fifth-day, went from thence to the Quar- 
terly-meeting. There was but little testimony 



106 LETTERS OP 

borne, and that on the female side. The busi- 
ness went on in the same round of formality as 
usual, and but few seemed to feel interest 
enough to give a sentiment. But a subject of 
deep interest occupied the brethren for some 
time. It was carried up from Middletown 
Monthly-meeting ; — a proposal to alter the disci- 
pline with respect to appointments to stations in 
the church, so called, that none be made for term 
of life : a measure which, if carried into effect, 
will abolish the dignity of a certain order, who 
now claim the honor of " pillars that go no more 
out." It had been tried several times before, and 
had always been pushed out of doors by some 
kind of stratagem ; but it passed now, through 
all the opposition of honorables and right-honor- 
ables that arose. Having succeeded in getting 
it on the minutes, they say the motion for carry- 
ing it up to the Yearly-meeting passed by a great 
odds. After the meeting closed, one of the 
Buckingham elders came to me, and after the 
usual salutation, asked if I was willing to see 
some of them. I freely told her yes. She que- 
ried when I would be at home, or if I would 
meet them at the meeting-house. I replied, I 
vcould not tell when I should be at home, but for 
aught I knew, should be at the next Monthly- 
meeting. The next First-day was very stormy, 
and very few were collected at meeting. I was 
led to draw a comparison between our zeal and 
that of the Mahometans ; they going once in a 
year to pay their devotions to the tomb of their 



MARTHA SMITH. 107 

prophet ; and we going diligently twice in the 
week, at a set hour in the day, to a certain place,' 
to perform what we call worship, to a Being who* 
is every where present. I carried the analogy 
pretty far. After meeting broke, one of the el- 
ders let me know she did not think well of my 
setting their zeal in coming there through the 
storm at nought. I told her, if we came there 
in the right spirit, these things would not hurt 
us. The subject brightened so with me after 
this, that on the succeeding meeting day, I added 
another testimony of like import to this. It be- 
ing a Preparative-meeting, the case of an appli- 
cant for membership was brought up from the 
preceding Preparative-meeting. I had under- 
stood that the book of Discipline had beeu 
handed to the person ; which I mentioned, set- 
ting forth the inconsistency of such an act, and 
also what the discipline (according to Penn) was 
for, and that if we made any thing more of it 
than a mere regulator of outward order, it be- 
came a creed, or confession of faith. The query 
was put, whether she was going to conform, and 
one of the committee who had visited her, an- 
swered that she said she would try. This was 
such a blow to my feelings, that I told them they 
had made it a creed right out, and I did not know 
who could have the face to require a conformity 
from her, seeing we did not live up to it our- 
selves, with a great deal more to the same effect. 
It is really admirable how fast they are going into 
the letter, and how blind they are as to the spirit. 



108 LETTERS OP 

I am quite sick of these things. Well, I went 
to Monthly-meeting. Things went on about as 
usual. It broke up. Not one of them men- 
tioned the proposed interview, (though the select 
band seemed to be arranging something,) till the 
people nearly all left the place, and we had con- 
cluded to go ; when, accidentally it seemed to 
be mentioned they were all coming up the next 
day, in order to fulfil a string of appointments 
about Plumstead, and to see me in the way. 
Charles and myself had started for a week's tour 
to the different meetings, and were then on our 
way to Solebury. They were pretty peremptory 
that we should wait on them next day : and find- 
ing us bent on pursuing our own plan, they pro- 
posed the present time. I told them I was now 
at their command ; and so we went into the 
meeting-house, where we sat in conference for 
two hours, at least. Charles was permitted to 
be present, and there were nine elders. Why 
the other three were not there, I do not know. 
The subject was opened as being the subject of 
concern, my going about as I did, and mixing 
with the people of the world, attending other 
meetings, and not taking the advice of my 
friends. I asked an explanation of the words — 

II world's people ; v when it was answered, Frede- 
rick Plummer, and attending his meetings. I 
told them the spiritually minded, let them be of 
v/hat name or denomination they may, are the 
people I wished to associate with ; that I believed 
they, and they only, made up the militant church; 



MARTHA SMITH. 109 

and that we, that is our Society, were not the 
Lord's peculiar people ; that as to taking the 
advice of Friends, I had acted agreeably to what 
I believed to be the dictates of truth. It would 
take more time and a more retentive memory 
than I have, to pen down all that was said. The 
string they harped most on, was my not taking 
the advice of Friends. One said she had felt a 
great deal for me and my little children ; that if 
I would stay with them more, it would be a great 
satisfaction to her, at least. I replied, I could 
not see that my doing wrong would yield any 
solid satisfaction to any one. " O, to be sure, 
not doing wrong ; but they did not think it would 
be wrong to take their advice." I asked if it 
would be right to take advice contrary to the 
convictions of my own mind. " Why no," one 
seemed to think not ; but he talked as though I 
was deceived ; that I was going astray. Well, 
they would tell of such an one, who cast his 
burthen on his Friends, and it became too heavy 
for them, and they were glad to let him go. I 
told him I supposed we might recount instances 
of that kind from morning till night, and I did 
not doubt they were right in so doing ; but I had 
never believed in such a system for myself ; that 
it was like the Papist priests undertaking to 
forgive sins, for a set of people to release indi- 
viduals from their religious duty. At length one 
was tired, and another thought we should get 
into disorder; and so one proposed for Charles 
and myself to withdraw. 'Therefere we left 
10 



110 LETTERS OP 

them ; and though they had made many profes- 
sions of love in the affair, not one of them gave 
us the hand. 

Thus I have given thee a sketch of an inter- 
view that has very much strengthened my desire 
of being permitted to retire from the contested 
ground. * * # We have not heard 

what conclusion they came to among themselves, 
and I do not feel anxious about it ; for the least 
especial favor of Society operates as a bribe to 
my will, that I continually fear the consequences 
of. The circulators of the pamphlets have cer- 
tainly succeeded in their intentions, in some 
measure, among the unsuspecting and ignorant, 
insomuch that Elias Hicks's doctrine is now de- 
nounced by some that once united with him ; 
and I understand that a volume of extracts from 
our ancient authors is shortly to come out, in 
opposition to those we saw in New- York; and it 
is said others are going to set Fox, Penn and 
others to clashing in their own writings. I also 
understand that the contest is going on in Phila- 
delphia. E. Hicks' sermons have come out, and 
a counsel has been held concerning them by 
North-meeting elders. They have come into 
several neighborhoods where we were last week. 

M.S. 



MARTHA SMITH. Ill 

LETTER XLVI. 

Plumstead, 4th mo. 3, 1825. 
Dear Brother : 

A prospect of private conveyance by J. C, 
who takes New- York on the way of his removal 
to Rochester, induces me to address thee again, 
though nothing interesting has occurred to in- 
form thee of since my last. I have been mostly 
at home, and though I do not feel it to be my 
proper place, yet I seem to submit implicitly to 
circumstances. Have attended meeting once, 
and that to no purpose that I know of, save a 
more perfect conviction that none but those who 
carry the sectarian badge, " the mark of the 
beast," will be permitted to buy or sell in the 
populous streets of spiritual Babylon, in this 
day, as in all others. The uppermost seats, or 
those who fill them, standing sentinels to guard 
the avenues, so that no entrance be made, and 
no encroachment on their supposed privileges 
pass their eagle watch. I recoil from the decep- 
tive scene with feelings of heart-sick disgust, and 
if I dare ask terms of my God, it would be to 
withdraw forever therefrom. Such blindness, 
bigotry and formality combined, the first of 
which may plead an excuse for the two last ; but 
really it seems astonishing so much of them 
should exist at the present day. One of the 
elders queried with me a short time since, whe- 
ther her information that I had had a meeting at 
Tullytown was true. I gave her the circum- 
stance, and said they might call it what they 



112 LETTERS OP 

would, and make of it just what they pleased. 
If I had been at the theatre, she need not have 
made more lamentation about it. I claimed 
liberty of conscience, and she brought up the old 
song of delusion. I requested her to look back 
to the beginning among Friends, and was going 
to direct her attention to the manner in which 
they were treated, for deviating from the esta- 
blished worship ; but she interrupted me by 
saying, " I have been reading how George Fox 
used to run about almost as bad as thee ; but 
then," she continued, " I was not about to say 
he was not right." I asked her if she believed 
I would have had that meeting, if I did not think 
it was right. She said, she did not ; but asked 
if there was not such a thing as delusion. In 
such cases, I often feel as if my hands were 
tied ; for when people deny the fundamental 
principles of religion, viz : the light within, and 
the certain evidence thereof, they have neither 
eyes to see, nor ears to hear anything beyond 
what custom has established ; and like the Jews 
of old, they make void the law of God through 
the traditions of men. It is therefore like cast- 
ing pearls before swine, to talk of anything like 
acting in simple faith. Well, seeing she had 
begun the subject, I asked her if our late inter- 
view had afforded them any satisfaction. Why, 
she said, she believed it was the united opinion 
of them all (meaning, I suppose, those who had 
sat in council, of which I gave thee an account 
in my last letter,) that I ought to take the advice 



MARTHA SMITH. 113 

of my friends. " Who are my friends," said I. 
"All of us ; I am thy friend." " Thou art not 
my friend, if thou art not willing I should do 
right." "I am willing thee should do so." 
Here we entered the door, and the conversation 
was discontinued for the present time. Since 
that time, I paid a friendly visit to one of our 
neighbors, an overseer. We spent the after- 
noon in conversation on various subjects ; but on 
coming away, she walked with me, and after a 
considerable time, she said, " I suppose thou 
knows we did not answer our queries clear, last 
time V 9 " No, I did not know but you answered 
them as usual. I did not notice any difference 
in them." She then stated, in a rather incohe- 
rent manner, why they did not ; and as I felt 
considerable freedom, I exercised it, and with 
keeping up the subject, she came home with 
me ; and having staid awhile, I accompanied 
her back again part of the way, and talked some 
more on the subject. At length we parted ; she 
making several professions of love ; and I told 
her that when I did right, I felt to love every 
body, but when I did not, I could not feel that 
love ; that it was something which could be 
easily spoken, but to feel it, was better than 
w^ords # ^ # # # # # 

M.S. 
10* 



114 LETTERS OP 

LETTER XLVII. 

Plumstead, 1st mo. 22, 1826. 
Dear Brother : 

I seem to feel bound yet to exercise the pen, 
occasionally. And perhaps thou mayest desire 
to hear the conclusion of our late journey. 
Having given thee a detail as far as Baltimore, 
I need only go back thus far. I mentioned in 
my last letter, we should get home in three 
weeks from that date ; but my companion be- 
came so anxious to reach it, that I left Baltimore 
with a burthen that increased at every step we 
took, for several days. My proneness to shud- 
der at the cross, induced me to look for a short 
stay in that city. But the longer we remained 
there, the more I saw a way open for so- 
cial intercourse with some friends, and therefore 
that social love that binds man to his fellow man 
rose above the cowardly spirit of the creature, 
and seemed to veil the cross, in measure, by 
faith and hope. It may seem strange that social 
motives should lead to protract a visit com- 
menced upon what is called religious motives. 
But my views have often been turned to that 
kind of usefulness, and I believe the daily walk 
of the humble Christian in that way, might be 
more beneficial to mankind, than the most sanc- 
timonious crusades through a country by those 
who preach one thing, and yet require their 
hearers to do another. We, as a people, have 
become so attached to certain phrases, that seem 



MARTHA SMITH. 115 

to denote a special mission, that anything with- 
out that seal will not pass current at all. 

M.S. 



LETTER XLVIII. 

Philadelp7iia, 2d mo. 14, 1826. 
Dear Brother: 

I now avail myself of leisure to address thee, 
in answer to two former letters, by which I was 
much gratified. The queries of the first, ad- 
verted to in the latter, respecting our friends in 
Chester county, I think were answered as to 
the subject, in my last to thee. Cousin J. W. 
has clear views, and appears to be living up to 
them, in defiance of those shackles which So- 
ciety has placed upon him. Cousin A. P. had 
been much enlarged in the ministerial line, for 
some time previous to our visit in the neighbor- 
hood. In contemplating the various dispensa- 
tions of Providence to the children of men, I 
am sometimes lost in astonishment at the ways 
and means he makes use of. 

With regard to myself and the authorities of 
our meeting, there is little to be said. I went 
to meeting the next day after we got home from 
our western tour, and finding the same lethargic 
spirit as formerly, I expressed my feelings and 
left them ; nor did I go to meeting again until 
the two preceding Fifth-days to my leaving 
home, which was on the fourth of this month, 
I do not know that any body troubled them- 



116 LETTERS OP 

selves much about my staying at home. But a 
few weeks since there were two different persons 
in the neighborhood, appointing meetings. One 
was a Freewill Baptist, the other a Presbyte- 
rian, and a number of us attended these meet- 
ings, which caused a considerable stir. One of 
the overseers visited Charles on the subject. 
The female overseers, less candid, but more offi- 
cious, carried their concern to the Preparative- 
meeting, stating in the answer to the query on 
Hireling Ministry, that we were generally clear. 
I was present, and we had the subject canvassed 
pretty well, and though I stated plainly that the 
person they had in view professed to be con- 
scientious against taking pay for preaching, 
after cavilling some time about it, they con- 
cluded it was a safe answer, because it stated 
they were generally clear. I then told them, I 
considered myself as clear as the clearest of 
them ; that I bore a testimony against an hire- 
ling ministry of any kind, whether it was paid 
for in money, in applause, or approbation of 
men. I came away before the Monthly-meet- 
ing, but I think I shall be at the Quarterly, to 
defend the cause, if the Lord permit. It is pro- 
bable they consider my example, if it has any 
weight, a very pernicious one ; and it appears 
to be the prevailing sentiment throughout the 
Society, to tighten the cords of the discipline ; 
thus wasting the little strength that remains, in 
trying to mend others ; not coming home to the 
cultivation of that heavenly seed, which is cha- 



MARTHA SMITH. 117 

rity, which suffereth long, and is not easily 
provoked. A disinterested beho]der can see this 
is too much the case, on either side ; that both are 
equally supporting the authority of a discipline, 
which deserves just as much the title of spiritual, 
as good, wholesome civil laws do. The only dif- 
ference is, that one party would place the power 
in a few, the other, in many ; and of the two, if 
truth must be circumscribed by any thing but its 
own bounds, the fewer perhaps the better, as 
many voices make confusion. I attended the 
Quarterly-meeting in the city, and also all the 
different meetings of the Society. I have had 
liberty in speaking in them all ; I have also found 
freedom amongst the little circle of friends that 
I have here ; but the greatest cause I have to re- 
joice in is, that I feel my mind more and more 
unshackled from human ties. Even that fond 
attachment of friendship I once had for particu- 
lar individuals, has mostly subsided into a general 
feeling of love to mankind, and the pleasing sub. 
ject of meditation on the goodness and mercy of 
God. In company, often, I feel no disposition 
to converse ; for those who understand the lan- 
guage of the spirit of love, can feel it, and those 
that do not, cannot comprehend it, though you 
say ever so much. I have had satisfaction in at- 
tending the Christian meeting ; but I think the 
source of satisfaction in these things is the meet- 
ing of my fellow mortals on the broad scale of 
universal acceptance, according to their works, 
where, as the pious Blair expresses himself, on 



118 LETTERS OF 

devotion, " worldly distinctions cease, and worldly 
cares are forgotten." The contracted chains of 
sectarianism, when fastened on the mind, are 
galling to the last degree. It seems as if they 
had, in some sort, the same effect on the mind 
that a tight-drawn cord has on the animal flesh, 
to deaden it, so that in a state of deep suffering 
it is scarcely sensible of feeling at all. M. S. 



LETTER XLIX. 

Plumstead, 3d mo. 5, 1826. 
Dear Brother : 

As I suppose thee to have received a letter 
written in Philadelphia, I will go back a little to 
inform thee of the remainder of my stay in the 
city. The same evening, after writing, at the 
house of F. P.'s father, it was a favored season 
with a few who appeared to be devoted to Christ, 
or seeking to become his followers. The next 
day I called on some of my acquaintance, and 
returned to my lodgings, at our kind friend B. 
Dorsey's. Fifth-day, I wrote letters to Indiana ; 
a merchant from Richmond being in town, by 
whom I sent them. Spent the afternoon at Abra- 
ham Lower's, in company with his wife ; himself 
not at home ; he being gone to some of the Quar- 
terly-meetings in Chester county, partly on a 
social visit. My heart rejoices at the necessity 
some of them find themselves under, to go with- 
out the customary appendages of honor. And 
my soul hails with joy the day in prospect, when 



MARTHA SMITH. 119 

these things will be seen in their true colors, to 
belong to the beast and his kingdom, and when 
even among a people who have so far backsliden 
as the Society who call themselves Friends. 
The mighty power of the Highest will operate 
so effectually as to cause them to trample under 
foot those imposing rules that bind the conscience, 
and aspire to force the homage of the heart. 
Glory to God and the Lamb forever ! they will 
have the victory in the end. Sixth-day, I visited 
some others of my friends, and in the evening 
attended a meeting of the Society for the Pro- 
motion of Joint Interest and Happiness ; the 
principles of which are not new to me, but have 
been the subject of thought at different times 
since I became interested in the cause of right- 
eousness. And I cannot believe otherwise than 
that when the apostolic faith comes into opera- 
tion completely, the apostolic order of things 
must be restored. Individual interest can have 
no place in the heart, when love to our neighbor 
is equal to that of ourselves. But when, or by 
what means all this is to be brought about, I 

know not ; and if is an instrument in the 

Divine hand, to bring about this state of things, 
the work, no doubt, will prosper ; but all the 
works of man, as man, will never do it. It must 
be by and through the efficacious works of divine 
grace in the heart, modifying the stern will of 
man, and bringing it into the obedience that was 
in Christ. Seventh-day, I came home, and found 
the children and our parents in pretty good 



120 LETTERS OP 

health. The Fifth-day following, attended the 
Quarterly-meeting at Wrightstown. In getting 
through the queries and answers, one of our 
elders was very much tried about our testimony, 
so called, respecting hireling ministry; but I 
found myself in some sort called upon to defend 
the case that I wrote thee about in my last, and 
the answer went quite clear to the Yearly-meet- 
ing. But that elder's stubborn belief was not 
changed, and she told me after meeting, she 
thought it was not the truth. On our way home, 
we got thy letter dated First month 25th ; by 
which it appears your department is in great 
commotion. But while I contemplate with a 
kind of mingled wonder and delight, those omi- 
nous fluctuations of the elements, I can find no 
language to paint my sensations, so well as by 
comparing it to a violent thunder storm, which, a 
little natural philosophy teaches us, tends to the 
purification of the atmosphere. Things seem to 
go on pretty much in the old way w r ith us. We 
are too far from the scene of action to be very 
sensibly affected therewith ; but I rather suppose 
the leaven is working, that will eventually leaven 
the whole lump. M. S. 



LETTER L. 

Buckingham, 6th mo. 6, 1826. 
Dear Brother : 

With respect to my own concerns and adven- 
tures, I could write thee a volume, if I had 



MARTHA SMITH. 121 

capacity ; but as I once told thee, I felt wearied 
with writing, and reading documents of events 
that occurred to me. I leave them to sink into 
oblivion, desiring neither to dwell nor feed upon 
the past, nor yet anxiously anticipate the future. 
The present moment is only mine ; it is there- 
fore my proper business to employ it to advan- 
tage. All the occurrences that cross my path 
and thwart my will, teach me the necessity of 
faith and patience. The latter appears to me 
the most difficult to attain and retain, but per- 
haps the former is its true foundation, and if se- 
curely and permanently laid, would always sup- 
port the latter. We have many lessons to learn, 
and in religious experience, as in all others, they 
become more difficult, that is, they require more 
intense study, as we progress, until we arrive to 
a perfect knowledge of them. Thus, in arith- 
metic, simple addition is soon calculated, but the 
compound rules puzzle the brain. Of this, thou 
understandest more than I do ; but I feel more 
than I can express or thou canst understand, save 
in thy own experience of the rules I meant to 
prefigure. The mind that is taught in the school 
of Christ, must be very attentive and diligent, or 
it will not keep pace with the Master's precepts. 
I believe I should feel a reward, if I was more 
willing to leave my home at the Master's call, 
but the cares of the world fetter me so much, 
that I begin almost to despair of ever becoming 
released therefrom. I find, to my sorrow, that 
the more I listen to the voice of the reasoner, the 
11 



122 LETTERS OP 

more I become entangled ; and I can truly com- 
prehend the state of mind figuratively spoken of 
in Adam : " The woman thou gavest me be- 
guiled me, and I did eat." "Whenever the good 
things of this life engross our affections, and 
draw them off from their proper object, then it is 
we feel the same excuse necessary, whether we 
are honest enough to confess it, or not. With 
regard to your Yearly-meeting, I do not know 
that I had any particular business there ; but if I 
could have brought my mind to leave all, and 
also to hazard and encounter all the world could 
take and give, I should have been there at the 
time. But Newport has been before me for 
some time past, and if the waves of despondency 
do not overwhelm me, or some yet unforeseen 
occurrence prevent, I expect to go there. I in- 
tend asking P. to accompany me, and if thee 
gets this in time, and has an opportunity, thee 
may mention it to her. ML S. 



LETTER LI. 

New- York, 6th mo. 10, 1S26. 
Dear Husband : 

Under the dispensation of Divine Providence, 
it has once more become expedient to have re- 
course to this means of expressing my feelings 
to thee. My mind has been so entirely serene 
on the subject of my intended journey, that 
every thought and every reflection that arises 



MARTHA SMITH. 123 

i 

from doubt and carnal reasoning, is hushed into 
stillness, 

" And not a wave of trouble rolls 
Across my peaceful breast." 

My dear, dear children, for whom I feel the ten- 
derest solicitude of a mother's love, I have 
resigned you once more and again to the protec- 
tion of an all-wise, all-merciful Providence, 
whose faith has been my shield, from the first 
hour of my knowledge thereof ; whose care has 
been my preservation, and will also be yours ; 
whose wisdom has been my direction, and whose 
power has been my support. In that wisdom, 
and that power, had my natural life been 
called for, could I have resisted? Would the 
strong ties of maternal love, or those of filial 
tenderness, or conjugal attachment, have inter- 
cepted the final blow? Nay, verily, all these 
must have given way ; and happy for that mind, 
which, at such a time, is brought to resign all, 
instead of being torn from them in anguish. Is 
it not, then, even more rational to believe that it 
is altogether possible and right for the same state 
of resignation to be attained to, in a temporary 
separation from the near and dear connexions in 
life. Whoever doubts this, must be weak in the 
faith, defective in the love, and an unbeliever in 
Christ, our redeemer and mediator with the Fa- 
ther. And though they may talk much about 
them, they are but lies in their mouth ; for how- 
ever we may persuade ourselves that we stand 
loose from the world and the attachments thereof; 



124 LETTERS OP 

that we are not loving the gifts more than the 
Giver, it is in the time of trial that we mani* 
fest, beyond all dispute, our true state of mind 
herein, and like the young man formerly, whe- 
ther we will give up all to follow Christ, or turn 
again to these beloveds. And herein I can com- 
prehend the dispensations of Providence to the 
children of men, according to their several states 
and conditions ; that wherein our great posses- 
sions lie, we find our faith tried, and obedience 
proved. M. S. 



LETTER LII. 

Newport, 6th mo. 12, 1826. 
Dear Husband : 

This morning the Yearly-meeting began. Our 
English friends had much to say at the opening 
of the meeting, both in preaching and praying. 
To me, it was all as cold as the walls that sur- 
rounded us. The pompous certificates were 
read, and much labored expression of unity. 
The deathly sleep that this meeting appears to 
have sunk into, is very striking ; amidst which it 
is really painful to see the airs of sanctity that are 
put on. Let our friend R. E. try her best, I am 
certain she has had too much light on her under- 
standing to reconcile all that passes here. I 
hope thou and the children will be preserved ; 
and knowing the satisfaction of being with you 
to be forbidden, when duty to my great Master 
calls me away, I see, and have long seen, that 



MARTHA SMITH. 125 

spiritual death must be the consequence of par- 
taking thereof; and that if my natural life should 
even be spared, which I have no reason to ex- 
pect in that case, but rather that I should be cut 
off in the midst of my days ; that my spiritual 
life would be lost, and instead of sweet, bitter 
would ensue ; instead of enjoying that home, and 
your society, the mind, having lost its proper 
centre, would be tost with the tempest of con- 
tending passions ; and awfully to be feared is the 
event of such a conflict. If thou canst under- 
stand these things, I entreat thee to treasure 
them up, and not let them be lost. It has long 
been my firm belief that the blessing of Provi- 
dence would rest upon us, if we are faithful to 
known duty. It has also been as firm, that blast- 
ing, in every sense of the word, would follow 
disobedience. I feel my mind so entirely staid 
on truth, in this my allotment, that I cannot 
realise how a written certificate can be a conso- 
lation, and especially at this time, when to say 
that one goes out in unity, is telling a downright 
falsehood, seeing the meetings are so divided in 
themselves. M. S. 



LETTER LIII. 

Neivport, R. I., 6th mo. 15, 1826. 
Dear Brother : 

Robert Pearsall, of your city, being about to 
return home, it occurred to me I could write thee 
by him. My last was dated, I think, the 12th, 
11* 



126 LETTERS OP 

in the evening. We had then attended two sit* 
tings of the Yearly-meeting. Some friends came 
to us as we were on the porch of the boarding- 
house, that evening, and told us it was the sense 
of the meeting that we should be silent among 
them, on which condition they had no objection 
to our sitting in their meetings. P. expressed 
her willingness to do so, if she could, with peace 
of mind. There was no meeting but the select 
one, on Third-day morning. In the afternoon 
we went again. I spake once, and to my relief. 
P. spake also. A great bustle agitated our 
boarding-house the next morning. Continual 
groups of Quakers and Quakeresses were seen 
whispering in one part or another. At length 
we were solemnly summoned into the passage, 
and our sentence delivered by a stout man ; not 
with a sword girt by his side, but a sanctimonious, 
straight coat, in presence of two females. It 
w r as that we were not to go into the meeting- 
house, only upon promise to be silent. Deaf to 
all remonstrances, they urged the point with un- 
yielding firmness, (if it deserves such a name.) 
At length he went out, and shortly after re- 
turned, bringing another, not so tall, though quite 
as muscular as himself. He had previously told 
us, that if we went in, and did speak, immediate 
information would be given, and he, himself, 
should be one to remove us. This latter one now 
told us he should assist in removing us. So that, 
as far as muscular strength could deter us, they 
tried the experiment. I felt not the least hesita- 



MARTHA SMITH. 127 

tion from all their threats, nor the least wavering 
for all their arguments of pretended love, but 
kept my mind retired, so that I might know 
what to do. P., at length, though clear herself, 
took my arm, and we walked towards the meet- 
ing house. Before we proceeded far, she de- 
clined going, and I released her, and went on 
alone. The people had mostly gone in, but one, 
who seemed like a priestess among them, with a 
few others, were on the way, one of whom ran 
full speed toward our executioner, who was stand- 
ing alone, about half way between the men's and 
women's door. He met her, and they stood per- 
haps a minute in consultation, by which time I 
had nearly reached the steps, but did not hasten 
in the least, as I had no idea of forcing my way. 
By a quickened pace, he intercepted my path, 
and peremptorily told me I must not go in. 
" What !" said I, " and this the house of the 
Lord !" He repeated the command, and I stood 
still before the door, which was closed. At 
length I sat down on the bench, and he on the 
step-stone ; but, I suppose, not willing to lose the 
meeting, he opened the door, and called a female 
by name. They then fastened the door, and I 
heard the bolt grate on the inside. He now went 
in, and that I, might feel myself clear, having 
gone as far as I could, I tried the latchet of both 
doors, which I could not raise. I then returned 
home. But, in the afternoon, it seemed best to 
try them again. I went earlier, was again met 
by the same man, and in full view of the gazing 



128 LETTERS OP 

multitude, forbidden to enter. Several females 
surrounded me, pleading that I would return. 
At length the man proposed that I should go in, 
if I would give my word that I would not speak. 
I replied, I could do no such thing. One Friend, 
with a tremulous voice, asked me if there was 
no other way that I could clear my mind. I told 
her I did not know of any, except speaking to 
the people in the street, which I had not yet felt 
myself called to. " Well," said she, " perhaps 
I have nothing to do with it." Another stood 
weeping by me a long time, but at length went 
in. I remained by the door most of the after- 
noon meeting, but left before it closed. This 
morning, after they had all left the house a con- 
siderable time, as I thought, it was with me to 
walk again to the house. The door was fast ; 
but some others coming up just at that time, it 
was opened, and I walked in without opposition. 
I sat down on a bench in the passage. A young 
woman came to me, and asked me if I had not 
better go out. She sat by me, and appeared 
very apprehensive at every movement, that I was 
going to rise ; but I sat a silent witness. I may 
just say, they are going to send on complaints to 
our meetings against us. With a mind perfectly 
composed as to the event of all things, I bid 
thee farewell. 

M.S. 



MARTHA SMITH. 129 

LETTER LIV. 

New Bedford, Mass., 7th mo. 2, 1826. 
My Dear Charles : 

I received a letter this afternoon, written jointly 1 
by thyself and cousin Anne, the contents of which 
were very acceptable. And seeing you are all 
doing well, I conclude to go to Nantucket to- 
morrow, committing myself to the care of Provi- 
dence. As P. has gone home, it has fallen to 
my lot to be left alone as to a steady companion ; 
but if it is necessary for my refinement to be led 
thus alone, all is well. I have found kind friends, 
and have had conveyance to all the different 
meetings that I have thought right to attend. I 
have been favored to dwell in patience, and have 
not experienced a lack of faith. Though I have/ 
thought much of the children and thyself, I have 
not been unduly anxious, but felt a secret hope 
you would do as well as if I was with you. * 
* # # # # # M. S. 



FROM ELIZA ROTCH, JUN. TO CHARLES SMITH. 

It may be agreeable to Charles Smith to hear 
from one who has lately shared largely in his 
wife's society, that she has been very acceptably 
among her New Bedford friends. Her walk ap- 
pears to be that of a truly devoted child of the 
Father ; and the simplicity with which she fol- 
lows the one only guide, regardless of the opi- 
nions of men, is truly edifying and delightful to 



130 LETTERS OF 

observe. The meekness of spirit with which she 
meets opposition, deprives it of its sting ; and the 
serene cheerfulness of her countenance clearly 
shows the peace that reigns within. When she 
has done all the duty that is required of her in 
these parts, she will doubtless return home, not 
only with the reward of peace, but with a re- 
newed capacity for her domestic concerns, and 
a fresh interest in them ; for the more perfectly 
we stand in the will of God, the better we fulfil 
all the duties of life. 

Eliza Rotch, Jun. 



LETTER LV. 

New Bedford, 7th mo. 4, 1S26. 
Dear Brother : 

Nothing material has occurred since my com- 
panion left me ; but having moved on in entire 
dedication of heart, feel entirely peaceful, thus 
far. I hope thou art endeavoring more and more 
after that state of mind wherein anxiety cannot 
dwell, but instead thereof a calm resignation 
and willingness that every thing may be done in 
the Lord's time. This attainment comes through 
patient perseverance in suffering of the creature, 
unto the end or swallowing up of the carnal will ; 
and to ourselves it is of infinite importance. * 

M.S. 



MARTHA SMITH. 131 

LETTER LVI. 

Buckingham, 8th mo. 13, 1826. 
Dear Brother : 

I have enjoyed my home with feelings not to 
be described in language, ever since my return ; 
and the completion of every act of my late visit 
has left my mind without a cloud in that respect, 
while the sweet savor of those opportunities I 
enjoyed with my friends, rests as refreshing dews 
around my heart. The sensations that arise 
therefrom are as imperceptible to the natural 
eye, and the enlivening vigor thereof as incom- 
prehensible to the natural mind, as is the growth 
of the grass of the field to the ox that feedeth 
thereon. Rest, O my soul ! in this : that simple 
obedience is better than sacrifice ; and never may 
the paltry consideration of a present gratification 
in the things of this world, overbalance the more 
substantial one of yielding to that conscious 
feeling, which ever has brought a corresponding 
peace in the end. The more I realize the worth 
of this, the more my mind becomes absorbed in 
reflections thereon, and the less it roams abroad, 
that is, out of its own internal bounds, in search of 
happiness ; and I find that the more this internal 
satisfaction increases, the enjoyments I once had 
in the most exalted Jdnd of friendship and social 
intercourse, decreases. Sence, I s^em to know 
no one after the flesh, nor do I jlesire ever to 
know mankind so any more. But these senti- 
ments have a deep mystical meaning, and unless 
the mind has arrived to that point in experience 



132 LETTERS OF 

where there is no mystery in them, vain would 
be the powers of language to reveal them. In 
our Monthly-meeting, which has taken place 
since my return home, one of the committee 
in the case of difficulty, (which was the complaint 
from Rhode Island) informed they had attended 
thereto. The like report was made in the men's 
meeting, and it was left in that kind of blind 
way, that I suppose there was not much under- 
standing of it ; and it appears from out-door re- 
ports, that there has not been a full understand- 
ing in the committee ; for some say it was 
quashed; others, that it was sent back to the 
overseers, to pursue the regular course ; and how 
it is, or how it is to be, is yet undetermined. But 
the Seventh-day before Monthly-meeting, an 
overseer collected and brought three of the 
elders to see me. It so happened that Charles 
and myself were from home. On Second-day, 
after meeting, she enquired of me whether I 
would meet them at the meeting-house, or prefer 
my own house ] I replied, I did not care any 
thing about it. She then proposed next Fourth- 
day. I told her I did not make engagements ; 
that if it so happened that I was at meeting, and 
it suited, that time might do ; I could not tell any 
thing about it ; but I desired her to have the 
other overseers, if she was coming on official 
business. She said she had called on one of the 
overseers ; that she was not very well, and de- 
clined coming. I then asked her what the busi- 
ness was % She put on a demure look, and said, 



MARTHA SMITH. 133 

perhaps they would be better prepared to tell 
that when we met. " Perhaps you will have it 
made up by that time," said I. She then began 
to make a long protestation of their entire silence 
on the subject as they were coming the other 
day. I said, I did not doubt that, but I sup- 
posed they knew what they were coming for. 
Yes, she said, they did. I then repeated the 
question, but she gave me no answer. I after- 
wards met with the overseer who was repre- 
sented as not being very well, and on that ground 
declined coming to see me. She said she was 

well enough, but told she had nothing to 

do with the business ; and yesterday she in- 
formed me it was not required of me by the 
discipline to go and see them; that if the over- 
seers had any thing to do, let them come to me ; 

and as for the misrepresentation gave me, 

she did not intend to let it rest so, for she did 
not like such doings ; but if I chose to meet 
them, and wished her to be present, she was 
willing ; and now it rests thus. I think I shall 
hold myself prepared to meet them, and as the 
time is short, I defer sending this till after that 
day, which is one cause of my not writing 
sooner, believing thee would be desirous to 
know the event. 

Fourth-day evening, 16th. — Yesterday I was 
quite unwell, but by the application of remedies 
I have obtained relief, so as to be well enough 
to attend meeting to-day, where I also met the 
aforesaid overseer. She insisted on my sitting 
12 



134 LETTERS OF 

down with herself and two of the elders. I told 
her if it was overseer business, I was willing to 
meet them, but I did not know that I had any 
thing to do with the elders. She went to one of 
them and talked a long time, then came back to 
me, and asked me if I continued in the same 
mind 1 I asked her, what mind ? She replied, 
" Not willing to see them." I said, I was willing 
to meet them as I proposed, any time or any 
where. She asked me what objection I had to 
those elders being present. I said, none at all, 
and as she had several friends, I would ask the 
liberty of one ; to which she consented. I stept 
out and spoke to R. S., and he came in. Her 
first concern, she mentioned, was, that I was 
laying waste the Scriptures ; and she wished to 
know why I did so. I replied, I did not, and 
never had. She said, she did not know how 
they were to understand me, if I did not, for it 
was generally understood so. I told them, I 
thought the Scriptures were most excellent ; that 
they were a chain of consistencies from begin- 
ning to end. Well, she said, I ought to make 
myself better understood, for I said a great deal 
to discourage them from going to meeting. R. 
S. then spoke, and said he thought I was well 
understood, and that what I said was no discou- 
ragement, but rather an encouragement to attend 
them in the right way. E. J. also said she did 
not understand me as the other overseer did. 
But all this seemed to have no weight at all with 
her, for she continued her observations, with all 



MARTHA SMITH. 135 

the earnestness that could be imagined. # 
* * * She said it was from motives of 
love that she came to talk with me. T told her 
she need not have mustered up the elders to 
come with her; if that was the motive. She said 
she had a right, according to discipline, to ask 
whom she pleased. I requested her to show it 
to me, (for I had taken the book with me.) She 
looked over it, but at length shut the book. I 
asked her if she had found it. She replied, very 
coolly : " not just as she thought it was." She 
charged me with acting contrary to discipline, in 
attending meetings from home. I insisted on 
her pointing out the clause. She searched and 
looked through and through, but could not find 
it. I told her she had better learn the discipline, 
for those who undertook to administer it should 
know what it was ; for really, it appears to me 
they do not understand the letter itself. Though 
we said a great deal about the communication 
from R. L, that was not made any part of the 
present concern ; which leads me to think it has 
dropped. M. S. 



LETTER LVII. 

Buckingham, 8th mo. 28, 1826. 
Dear Brother : 

Though it is not long since I wrote thee, and 
though there is nothing new or interesting, that T 
know of to communicate, yet as Dr. Heston 
called on me a few days since, and offered to 



136 LETTERS OP 

carry a letter, I thought a few lines, informing of 
the health of the family, might be interesting. I 
have not been as well as usual for two weeks 
past, but have kept about mostly, and have at- 
tended meetings duly, as they came in course. 
I do not hear any thing more about the commu- 
nication from Rhode Island ; and as our Prepa- 
rative-meeting is past, and nothing reported 
about me, I conclude they will have to wait for 
a fresh clue to get hold of me. I have had a 
number of friendly visiters of late, but I have 
the most to fear on that hand, and I have felt a 
great dread in my mind, of a retaliating or politic 
spirit, lest I should be drawn in to seek to evade 
the discipline. I very much fear the same spirit 
is prevailing in the minds of some of the mem- 
bers on our side ; for so fully am I persuaded 
that strife and debate do not belong to the true 
Christian, that I had much rather depart from 
every thing of the kind, and dwell in peace and 
quiet ; but some how or other, circumstances 
over which I have no control, combine to detain 
me in the midst of them. I have felt as' much 
bound to meet at the usual time and place of 
worship as in former times, and have had to com- 
municate in them, excepting two, ever since I 
returned ; and some of our gallery folks think 
that when I speak, I point my discourse right 
at them. S. Blackfan seems to have received a 
fresh anointing. His communications are clear, 
and he appears undaunted in delivering them. 
Our Quarterly -meeting comes this week ; it is 



MARTHA SMITH. 137 

to be held at Falls. I feel bound to visit the 
select-meeting again, not knowing what shall be- 
fall me there ; but the more I see into the iniquity 
of a system, where an attention to the Spirit of 
Truth, in all its manifestations, is professed to be 
our guide, and yet that system plainly says, that 
no person who is considered to have a gift in the 
ministry, shall be permitted to set in the select 
meeting, until they have passed the regular or- 
deal, the more I see the inconsistency of this 
system, the more I feel bound to testify against 
such imposing intolerance. M. S* 



LETTER LVIII. 

Buckingham, 10th mo. 8, 1826. 
Dear Brother : 

Having looked thus far for thy arrival in vain, 
I take up the pen to remind thee of thy relations 
in Bucks county. I may inform, we are in better 
health than when I wrote last. I suppose thou 
hast not been calculating on my case having got 
into meeting; I will therefore give thee a short 
detail concerning it. The First-day preceding 
our last Preparative-meeting, the very active 
overseer mentioned in a former letter, informed 
me, after meeting, that some of them thought it 
would be best to take my case to the next Pre- 
parative-meeting. Very well, said I, if you think 
it essential to your peace, do so; I have nothing 
to do with it. I actended the following Fourth- 
day, and sat opposite the gallery. After the 
12* 



138 LETTERS OP 

clerk had opened the Preparative-meeting, and 
a considerable pause ensued, she asked if the 
overseers had any business to offer. E. J. re- 
plied, she knew of none. The other overseer 
said the London epistle was in the meeting, and 
queried if it was thought a suitable time to read 
it. One or two assenting voices were given, and 
it was read ; after which she took a slip of paper 
from her pocket and gave it to the clerk, which 
she read, T believe nearly or quite as follows : 
" Martha Smith has travelled as a minister, con- 
trary to discipline, and frequently disturbed a dis- 
tant Yearly-meeting, by introducing unsavory 
views and sentiments." There was not a single 
word spoken to it, and after some comments on 
the epistle, meeting broke. Last Second-day 
was our Monthly-meeting, and the clerk being 
absent, a person was proposed to assist at the 
table. She declined, not having her spectacles. 
S. G-. was named, and took the seat. After the 
business of the meeting was accomplished, the 
charge against me was read, as the Preparative- 
meeting report. A dead silence ensued, which 
E. VV. inteiTupted by proposing a committee ap- 
pointed, which w r as objected to by E. B. on the 
floor of the house, by stating that it was unsafe 
to act in this way, unless they knew exactly 
what had been said ; for though it might have 
been unsavory to some, it might have been satis- 
factory to others ; and that they could not come 
to a judgment in this case, without having it spe- 
cified. E. W. urged the authority of such a 



MARTHA SMITH. 139 

body and the frequent repetition of the complaint. 
S. G. urged the manifest breach of discipline. 
Some others objected to proceeding in a com- 
mittee ; and at length it was proposed to apply 
to the men for assistance. Some persons op- 
posed this, as not being the regular way of pro- 
ceeding. At length I arose, and told them I 
believed it would be right for me to speak in my 
own defence ; and stated the manner in which 
the charge was introduced, without the know- 
ledge of the other overseer, and without the 
voice of the Preparative-meeting ; that I had 
never travelled as a minister; I had never gone 
with the necessary appendages of one ; that I 
had never carried a written certificate as a pass- 
port to the hearts of the people ; and that I had 
always informed such as enquired of me, that I 
was but a common member ; with much more 
on the subject. Some Friends then proposed 
referring it back to the Preparative-meeting, as 
it had not come regularly forward. E. W. vin- 
dicated the manner in which it had come, and 
the overseer endeavored to justify her proceed- 
ings. A committee was again called for, but 
opposed by different sentiments. In fine, such 
a free interchange of sentiments and plain deal- 
ing never occurred beneath that roof before, I 
apprehend. I cannot express the enjoyment I 
felt during the contest ; though when any thing 
like commendation was heard, I would rather 
have been absent. But the brow-beating (to use 
a rough term) that an elder and an overseer gave 



140 LETTERS OF 

those that opposed their measures, and the firm- 
ness, or perhaps a better idea of the proceedings 
may be formed by saying stubbornness, with 
which the ground was maintained, was most in- 
teresting ; the more so, because I know that 
nothing but actual engagements will prove us 
good soldiers. Had I a sectarian feeling in fa- 
vor of my own Society, or did I believe their 
system was less a Babel than other religious sys- 
tems, I might think that self-interest was the 
ground of my rejoicing on the occasion ; but so 
far from that, after it was over, and the voice of 
the meeting to "drop it entirely' ' prevailed, I 
seemed to feel like one remanded back to prison. 
To give a little further of the particulars : in the 
discussion, so many arose and spoke on the sub- 
ect — young and old, gay and plain — that an 
elder got up almost in an agony, and remarked, it 
was so trying to have so much said, she did desire 
they might get into the quiet. A pause ensued 
for a short time, when another elder observed 
that it was right for us to submit one to another, 
and if a few friends were named as a committee, 
the case might be decided. M. W. said it was 
right for us to submit one to another, but she 
thought it was most like breaking down the order 
of any thing she had seen, for such a few to try 
to carry a point over the heads of many. The 
clerk replied, it is sorrowfully true that many 
in this meeting were of that description, that 
so few of them were willing to stand for the law 
and the testimony. After another pause, she 



MARTHA SMITE. 141 

called for names, which drew forth such a num- 
ber against having any thing of it on the minutes, 
that the elder rose again, and in a tone of distress 
exclaimed, to drop it. A number repeated the 
same, and thus it ended. # * * * 

M.S. 



LETTER LIX. 

Buckingham, 1st mo. 28, 1827. 
Dear Brother : 

Our correspondence has ceased for so long a 
time, that I begin to wonder what is the matter; 
whether thou art proving my faith in this matter, 
as I have expressed my disrelish of committing 
things to paper in this our day. I have nothing 
to inform thee of, that would be interesting, con- 
cerning the great controversy with us, I believe, 
supposing thee gets all this news from other 
sources. I have been much about home since 
my visit to Baltimore, and have attended meet- 
ings as regularly as ever I did in my life, when 
circumstances would admit of it. Indeed, I feel 
it important to get my work done in the Society, 
while I have the opportunity. I get a brush 
from the elders, and then run on again. In all 
the transactions of that class of people, the true 
state of things is more and more developing. In 
fine, seeing the system is such that none but our 
own members are suffered to have the opportu- 
nity of declaring the truth in our borders, it is 
in best wisdom that the works of Anti-christ 



142 LETTERS OF 

manifest themselves in such glowing colors as 
not to be mistaken ; and that a love of truth and 
justice is leading some amongst us to bear their 
testimony therefor, in such a way as to arouse 
that spirit to show itself on many occasions. A 
long debate arose in our last Monthly-meeting, 
in consequence of an acknowledgment produced 
from a female, who had been disowned some 
time since. It was as full, perhaps, as is ever 
offered. The first objection was, that she had 
not often been at meeting; the next, that she 
did not bring it herself. We had recourse to the 
discipline, which was read again and again, and 
only proved it to be a privilege, not an injunc- 
tion, that the individual should appear on such 
an occasion. A few individuals insisted on de- 
ferring it another month ; but a large number 
succeeded in getting a committee appointed to 
visit her. We have had a social visit from our 
cousin J. W. He was in Philadelphia, on his 
way up here, when Elias was there, and attended 
two of his meetings. He appeared to be rather 
struck with the state of those meetings. I now 
recollect I have never given thee any account of 
my visit to Baltimore, which was very pleasant. 
I enjoyed the company of some of my old friends 
with peculiar satisfaction, and also the Yearly- 
meeting, which I attended mostly in silence. 

The language was, "let them alone. ,, * 

* * * * # * * # 

M.S. 



MARTHA SMITH. 143 

LETTER LX. 

Buckingham, 2d mo. 23, 1827. 
Dear Brother : 

The day after I sent my last to the post-office, 
I received thine. It was grateful indeed to hear 
again from thee, and some of thy remarks were 
very striking. That of traditionalists only being 
able to recommend their own bewildered path 
is very true ; for in no instance, perhaps, can 
man or woman recommend to another any thing 
that they have not proved for themselves to be 
good. Of course, those that are resting in the 
labors of others, have nothing else to direct 
their fellow pilgrims to ; not accustomed to use 
their own feet to walk with, or their own hands 
to labor with, separate from the help of other 
people, they think it presumptuous for any one 
to walk or work alone. Thus it is with men in 
trade, who have passing continually through 
their hands the current coin of the country, and 
much that belongs to other people. They often 
despise the simple labor of the mechanic and 
farmer, who can only realise in the course of 
years, what they suppose themselves to acquire 
in a few weeks; but in the end, we often see 
these very men brought below the level of those 
they have despised ; and to them the reverse 
of fortune is peculiarly severe. This I conceive 
to have been somewhat the case with the foolish 
virgins, as set forth in the parable, that they 
were brought to solicit the oil, or in other words, 
a portion of that grace which replenished the 



144 LETTERS OF 

hearts of their more diligent fellow-virgins. 
Yesterday was our Quarterly-meeting; the Se- 
lect meeting the day before, which I thought 
right to attend. A chill almost like that of 
death accompanied this impression of duty, for 
some time ; but on resigning myself to it, 
the clouds dispersed, and I felt calm and fear- 
less. After becoming seated among them, my 
mind was most sweetly gathered out of every 
thing that could hurt or destroy. This calm 
continued for a length of time, when it was pro- 
posed to proceed to business. Elizabeth Robe- 
son and her companion were present, but E. 
had not spoken, and I suppose those Orthodox 
who knew I was there had been laboring under 
the most violent perturbation in thought, for 
when S. C. had spoken, C. H. mentioned that 
if he was not mistaken, there was a person pre- 
sent who was not a member of that meeting. 
This was confirmed by another Friend. S. C. 
observed, he was not conscious of any such per- 
son being there, and as no disturbance had been 
made, he thought they might proceed. A hasty 
and violent opposition was made to this. D. C. 
observed, that if the individual had any thing 
to communicate to them, he was willing she 
should have the opportunity, and then she might 
withdraw. This was objected to by a number, 
who peremptorily refused to hear any thing from 
her. S. C. was surprised that any Friend should 
anticipate such a thing as a person having any 
thing to communicate, who was not a regular 



MARTHA SMITH. 145 

member; for his part, he had no such view, nor 
did he want to draw any thing from her, but if 
they would settle down, as long as there was no 
disturbance made, he thought they were in a 
better situation to transact their business than 
they would be if muscular power was appealed 
to, which had been advised. C. H. was aston- 
ished to hear such disorder encouraged, and to 
talk of settling down in the quiet, until order 
was maintained ; first support the order, and tJien 
settle down. * * * # * # A 

committee was appointed, and an adjournment 
about to take place, when I felt at liberty to 
leave them, which I did. Having twice at- 
tempted merely to inform them why I came, and 
of the peaceful quiet I had enjoyed amongst 
them, I was interrupted, and sat down. I re- 
mained in the other apartment until I thought 
they had done most of their business, and went 
in again. After they got through, I got up to 
speak. A Friend arose immediately, and said 
something ; but I heeded not, until I had ex- 
pressed the peace I felt, and my full belief, 
that to minds rightly centred, no external cir- 
cumstance could be a disturbance. Had I been 
allowed to have spoken before, I would have 
said, that though the whirlwind and fire had 
passed before me, I had heard the still, small 
voice within me, and the Lord spake it. If I 
would covet any thing but perfect resignation 
to the will of God, it would be to tabernacle on 
the mount, or that situation of mind wherein I 
13 



146 LETTERS OP 

met all I have repeated, and I suppose ten times 
more, that day, and a good deal yesterday at 
Quarterly-meeting, with an entire abstraction 
from every thing like resentment. M. S. 



LETTER LI. 

Bristol, 4th mo. 2$, 1827. 
Dear Brother : 

Thou hast had ample information of the trans- 
actions of the late Yearly-Meeting, long before 
now, I suppose ; therefore it is not worth while 
for me to say much about them. Our meeting 
was a time of enjoyment and refreshing to me; 
seasons of great liberty, both in speaking and 
feeling, at times ; and when it was otherwise, a 
willingness to suffer took away the sensation of 
suffering. Cousin J. W. attended the meeting. 
He is one of the most decided in sentiment 
against the measures of Quaker Orthodoxy that 
is to be found. I lemained in town until yester- 
day, when I came to this place, and am waiting 
for Charles to meet me. I attended three of the 
meetings this week ; two Monthly-meetings, in 
which I witnessed the determined disposition to 
rule with the rod of iron every opposing senti- 
ment that arises. Jemima Burson produced a 
very good minute from Richland Monthly-meet- 
ing, to that of the Northern District, Philadel- 
phia, expressive of a coneern to visit the families 
belonging to that meeting ; but it was not re- 
ceived. The reason assigned was, that some of 



MARTHA SMITH. 147 

the rulers could see no light on it. Fifth-day, 
at Green-street, a Declaration of Independence 
was read, which was feebly opposed in the men's 
meeting, but more obstinately in the women's ; 
and after the body of the meeting dispersed, the 
few Orthodox that remained, appointed repre- 
sentatives to the Quarter. I have got a copy of 
the Address from the Convention at Green-street, 
and I think it pretty good ; but as to the num- 
bers that will come out and stand firm, I am not 
sanguine ; neither am I as to the event of this 
separation, or its consequences. I believe that 
light is increasing, true knowledge progressing, 
and that, independent of all the systematising 
in the world, religion will spread and flourish, 
societies rise and increase, become formal in 
their branches, and divisions ensue. This will 
continue to be the case in all systems of reli- 
gion, and until mankind come to a more perfect 
understanding of the gospel, which is the power 
of God unto salvation, they will be seeking for 
it in these things. For my part, I feel entirely 
free that all should pursue the way that is opened 
before them; and believe that good will come 
out of much seeming evil. It is enough for me 
to know that hitherto the Lord alone has been 
my helper, and all I can ask is that He may be 
my preserver in the future ; which I have no 
doubt He will be, if I obey Him. When the 
time arrives for thy paying us a visit, I trust we 
shall be favored to rejoice together. M. S. 



148 LETTERS OP 

LETTER LXII. 

Newport, 6th mo. 12, 1S27. 
Dear Charles : 

My spirits, from the first view I had of coming 
at this time to New- York and Newport, were 
never high ; and while in New- York last week, 
I can say they were calm and equal, as I kept 
carefully from either retrospect or anticipation, 
and dwelt only in the present moment, which I 
know to be the only safe ground for me ; watch- 
ing continually for the coming of the Son of man. 
Some of my friends were fearful, that having 
the scrip of paper with its contents, I should be 
exalted thereby ; but in this I have been fully 
confirmed in what I have heretofore believed, 
that these outward supports were much more in 
the way of the mind realising to the full the en- 
joyment of an entire dependence on God, than 
an addition to it. And though, in the present 
state of things, they may have their use in some 
way or other, they must all be left behind, as the 
soul enters that state of liberty which the truth 
alone can give. This is the freedom I hope for; 
this is the freedom I am willing to endure hard- 
ship for, accounting nothing too near or too dear 
to be parted with, if haply I may attain thereto. 
I have attended two sittings of the meeting, and 
the third commences at three o'clock this after- 
noon. Things go on in the old way, only that I 
think they stamp them higher than formerly. I 
have found nothing to do, but sit a silent specta- 
tor amongst them yet. 



MARTHA SMITH. 149 

Fourth-day morning, 13th. — Went to meet- 
ing yesterday afternoon. Expressed a few 
words on the all-sufficiency of the grace of God 
in the heart, to effect the work of redemption, 
if attended to. There was no apparent opposi- 
tion, that I know of, while I was speaking. * 
* $ # # # # # 

New- York, 6th mo. 15. — Feeling quite re- 
leased from Newport, after attending four sit- 
tings of the Yearly-meeting, we left there on 
Fourth-day afternoon, and after a safe, though 
rather slow passage, arrived here yesterday 
afternoon- Sarah Eastburn is pretty well. She 
is staying with Maria Imlay while I write this. 
I have not much more to say at present ; but 
having some social duties to attend to here, shall 
endeavor to fulfil them, in order to leave the 
place without regret. * * ' * M. S. 



LETTER LXIII. 

Buckingham, 10th mo. 29, 1827. 
Dear Brother : 

Thy letter of the 3d came duly to hand, and 
was very interesting, as is every article of fresh 
intelligence respecting the state of things in So- 
ciety. All tend to confirm the belief that a great 
work is in the wheel, and progressing on to a 
great event ; which, if many of our professors of 
religion had but the faintest glimpse of, they 
would startle, and perhaps turn back ; but in 
great wisdom that event is hidden. And while 
13* 



150 LETTERS OP 

many and various circumstances are tending to 
the same point, the different instruments or co- 
workers therein seem to themselves to have each 
a separate allotment ; and perhaps, like the pro- 
phet of old, thousands consider that they are left 
alone. I am informed that the new Yearly- 
meeting was a favored one, and that the counsel 
of many was, that toleration and the greatest 
forbearance to our dissenting brethren and sis- 
ters should be manifested. I suppose this must 
be the prevailing sentiment of the more reflect- 
ing part of the community in general ; but many 
seem to think that discipline must be put in prac- 
tice on the active ones amongst them. For my 
part, I cannot say what is best to be done ; peo- 
ple will act according to the state they are in, 
and the effect will ever manifest its cause. Thus 
it is that experience is our best teacher ; and 
finding our most sanguine expectations often 
(and always when built on chaiigeable things) 
disappointed, we learn moderation, we learn for- 
bearance, and we learn humility of mind. There 
are many circumstances which go to convince 
me that the true Christian travellers amongst us 
will yet have to sacrifice their all in Society, be- 
fore they can enter the land of Canaan, and 
finally settle down into the true rest. 

It appears that the Creeditcs are determined 
to be the legitimate meetings, in every depart- 
ment ; and though a partial separation has taken 
place, as to meeting to transact business, yet our 
meetings for wcrrship remain the same, and they 



MARTHA SMITH. 1/>1 

manifest a resolution to disown those that do not 
submit to them. They have already visited, for 
that purpose, in Buckingham, T. C, J. W. and 
I. L.; and C. R. of Plumstead. If they disown 
them, of course they will oppose their enjoying 
the privileges of members. Now, suppose the 
other party disown even the most active among 
them, the consequence will be a total disregard 
of its authority, and a regular adhering to their 
present situations. 

* ^ ^ ^t* ^ * tP 

M. S. 



LETTER LXIV. 

Buckingham, 7th mo. 22, 1828. 
Dear Brother : 

The agitations of Society, which have so long 
yielded matter for the pen, have seemed to sub- 
side, like one of those heavy thunder-gusts that 
are often witnessed in the elements of nature, 
leaving a kind of heavenly calm around us. Y et, 
methinks, like one of those scenes, the distant 
thunder may yet be heard, in low and sullen 
murmurs, as it passes on to other plains. By 
the different publications of the day, both sides 
of the question are laid before a public whose 
deep attention is arrested by the subject ; and 
the more the veil, or covering, is rent away from 
those things that can be kept secret no longer, 
the more will appear the natural deformity of 
high profession, when unsupported by solid prin- 



152 LETTERS OF 

ciple ; and in that article I believe many of both 
parties will be found to be wanting. The pre- 
judice of education is so strong among tie, that 
I rather suppose nothing short of being razed 
to the ground will ever wean our affections from 
the beloved edifice and idolized system. Please 
give my respects to P. and E. Titus, and such 
other friends as may enquire after me. * 

M.S. 



LETTER LXV. 

Albany, 11th mo. 9, 1828. 
Dear Brother : 

In attending the meetings of Coemans and 
New Baltimore, I have smiled at and pitied the 
superstition of the people, who rejected me 
when there before, though I then came in the 
same authority, but not having the external in- 
signia of a commission, obtained no place in their 
minds . Could our disciplinarians see how plainly 
they deny, in fact, the profession they make of 
feeling where words came from, by holding up 
the necessity of a written certificate, to preserve 
us from impositions of persons not authorized, 
it appears to me they would hang their heads 
for very shame. M. S. 



LETTER LXVI. 

Saratoga, 11th mo. 20, 1S23. 
Dear Brother: 

In the reports from the different Monthly-meet- 
ings to the Quarter, (Saratoga) there was one 



MARTHA SMITH. 153 

from Lowville, signed by three female Friends, 
stating that on account of the smallness of their 
number, they had not held a Monthly-meeting, 
but could inform that the meeting for worship 
was kept up, and that love and unity were felt 
increasingly to prevail. I thought there was 
more life in that simple statement than I have 
felt in all the answers to the queries for seven 
years past. * * * * * * 

21st. — Yesterday proved a very wet one, but 
we had an excellent meeting ; and now, as some 
may think 1 have been rather short, in that I 
have not mentioned, according to the fashion (of 
ministers, so called,) what favored or unfavoied 
ones we have been in, I can only say that I mea- 
sure divine favor by my own obedience thereto ; 
that all meetings are good to me in that ; and if 
I may judge of the states of the people from the 
freedom I have felt in declaring truth among 
them, I should say that the ground of the hearts 
of many is prepared to receive it in its simpli- 
city ; but when it comes to the active operation 
thereof, I suppose many will stumble at the 
cross. The rules and regulations of Society, 
though acknowledged to be only for transgres- 
sors, must be strenuously observed by those who 
are not so, that in fine it centres here : those are 
the transgressors that do not live up to the letter, 
and those are the judges that have not come fully 
into the spirit of it. And however they may 
declare that there is no religion in the mere form, 
in the plain dress, or any other of the rules we 



154 LETTERS OF 

have, yet the strong bias of the mind for these 
rises in testimony against any one who deviates 
therefrom. Only let it be said that such an one 
has altered his or her dress, and it immediately 
follows that they have left the principle ; thus 
manifesting their belief that if religion does not 
consist in that, it is connected therewith, never 
to be divided. There is another thing that has 
got such hold of us that I fear nothing but rend- 
ing entirely to pieces will loose : — that we are 
ahead of all other professors. But notwithstand- 
ing these things are so irksome to me, I feel now 
willing to wear the bonds for Society's sake, 
until it is meet I should be released therefrom ; 
and if it be all the days of my life, I hope to be 
contented. 

22d. — This morning the sun shone with pecu- 
liar brightness, both externally and internally. 
Leaving our kind friends, S. Shepherd and fa- 
mily, we set our faces northward, piloted by a 
number of Friends returning from Quarterly- 
meeting. ****** 

M.S. 



LETTER LXVII. 

Rutland, Vt., 11th mo. 30, 1828. 
Dear Husband: 

* * Attended Queensbury meeting as men- 
tioned in the conclusion of my last letter, where 
John Comly had a great deal to say, and as 
usual, that which was instructive to the learner, 



MARTHA SMITH. 155 

consoling to the mourner, and encouraging to 
the sincere traveller. After meeting we went 
to Seth Thomas's, where John Comly and J. 
Roberts came to lodge, and we spent a long eve- 
ning pleasantly together, the conversation turn- 
ing on religion and religious improvement, 
without implicating the Orthodox. My feel- 
ings have very often been wrought up to 
what some might call warmth, but which I be- 
lieve to be a just zeal for the rights of indivi- 
duals ; and I have sometimes been constrained 
to speak on behalf of the absent, when I have 
heard the actions of those represented in the 
highest colors, and conclusions drawn respecting 
motives, in so decisive a manner that the re- 
porters appeared to sit as accusers and judges, 
and thus give a bias to the judgment of others 

*> 1 O f"l * TT w ?jp -Jp »t« ^(? 

I have remembered that last Fifth-day was 
Bucks Quarterly -meeting, and my mind was 
with our Friends there, several times; for though 
we are nearly three hundred miles from you all, 
I feel you all present with me almost continually. 

* * # As I have not mentioned before, 
the manner in which we have been led about, I 
will now advert a little to it. I had no distinct 
view of Ferrisburg Quarter when I left home, 
nor for some time after ; having heard that it 
was unitedly Orthodox ; but in the progress of 
our journey, hearing otherwise, we were turned 
this way. The true state of the case appears to 
be this : At the Quarterly-meeting succeeding 



156 LETTERS OP 

the Yearly -meeting, the Orthodox committee at- 
tended, and none of the other committee being 
there, Friends made no attempt to do any busi- 
ness, but sat and heard it transacted in silence. 
At the next Quarterly -meeting, some of Friends' 
committee came on ; then they took a firm stand 
in appointing the clerk and doing the business 
of the meeting ; after which they left the house 
to the Orthodox, who are far the most numerous 
— nine meetings out of sixteen being exclusively 
so, and all the others, except one, diyided in 
numbers. 

As we came on to Saratoga, it began to open 
before us, and finding we should haye time to 
take those meetings and get round to Black Ri- 
yer, and attend the meetings there, also in time 
to get to the Half Year's meeting in Canada, we 
have proceeded thus far accordingly. * * 

* Came to Joseph Tobias's to lodge, 
himself not at home, but we were kindly re- 
ceived by his wife and son. The evening was 
spent in instructive conversation, without impli- 
cating the Orthodox, which this observation im- 
plies to be of rare occurrence ; and truly my 
heart often sickens at the appearance of things 
amongst us, when I see those from whom I would 
hope better things, justifying themselves by the 
demerits of others ; and while they give full lati- 
tude to all, as being ahead of the Orthodox, ac- 
count every thing as ranterism that is ahead of 
themselves or their own party. An expression 
of a certain author, which I read many years 



MARTHA SMITH. 157 

since, that " that is not a whit to be proud of that 
cannot shine without a foil," has drawn the com- 
parison in my mind, that a religion that cannot 
6tand on its own merits, is not a religion to be 
satisfied with. But from the mixed state of So- 
ciety, there is no perfection to be looked for 
therein. And to declare one's sentiments to the 
full, in conversation, at all times, would be to 
wage war with both parties ; that while one has a 
work to do amongst them, there are many things 
to be endured, wherein we can understand the 
expression — " Suffer it to be so now." * * 
Zebulon Frost came and piloted us to Rowland 
T. Robinson's, at Ferrisburgh, and a meeting 
being appointed on Seventh-day at eleven o'clock, 
we attended, and it proved a very satisfactory 
one ; after which Joseph Rogers accompanied us 
to Joseph Hoags, at Monkton, the meeting there 
being all Orthodox, except two families. I 
thought it best to go to Joseph's (as he was rather 
considered the head thereof,) and have some talk 
with him about attending. We were kindly re- 
ceived and invited to stay, as fellow creatures, 
being assured at the same time that he could not 
fellowship with us, if we were what he had 
heard. This was all we could expect, as we did 
not go to solicit unity. We therefore concluded 
to stay all night; and the manner in which we 
were received made it quite easy for me to in- 
form them why we came. We had considerable 
talk, and there did rot appear much, if any, dif- 
ference in reality between us. But the great 
14 



158 LETTERS OP 

obstacle was, T had placed myself with the 
Green-street party, and the leader of that was 
Elias Hicks and other obnoxious characters. I 
felt no liberty to enter into a defence of those, 
with one whose mind was made up, and whose 
bark evidently appeared to me too small to stem 
the tide of free enquiry. And though I turned 
the subject of meeting with them in every way, 
I could not obtain any grant of freedom therein, 
neither to have one in the same house in the af- 
ternoon, nor to have the appointment of one at 
another place spoken of, at the close of their 
meeting. Such is the inflexible tenor of Quaker 
discipline, and such would probably be the re- 
sult of an application to those in the same station 
among us, by any person, however conscientious, 
who resembled in the remotest degree those 
professors of religion whom we are pleased to 
designate as hirelings. 

We were kindly treated throughout, nor do I 
think there was the least disunity felt with me at 
heart, but the apprehensions of the head bore 
away the victory. However, feeling liberty in 
my own mind, I went to meeting, and there ex- 
pressed what I felt, in as few words as possible. 
There was no opposition to what I said, and 
though there were two other communications 
afterward, there was nothing very pointed in 
them ; and upon the whole I had a good meet- 
ing, and Benjamin expressed the same. It saves 
us abundance of travelling, through the most 
njountainous parts of the country, that we are 



MARTHA SMITH. 159 

thus rejected by them ; and I have no doubt but 
the same power that brought Israel out of Egypt, 
and that dwelt in the King of Salem, is with 
them the same as He is with us, and that by be- 
coming subject thereunto, all will experience 
the effects thereof, which are quietness and as- 
surance forever. 

* # Came to Plattsburgh, where 

are four Friends, members of Society, with their 
families, some of whom are not members. My 
feelings being arrested here, on account of the 
people, I proposed having a meeting, and on ap- 
plication being made for the court-house, it was 
granted by the sheriff, information given, and a 
large collection of people assembled at early 
candle-light. I felt almost to shrink with dismay 
on seeing men apparently of the first standing in 
the place, enter the house. The fear that at- 
tends me on occasions like this, seems to be, 
lest the cause of religion may lose more than 
it may gain, through the weakness of the instru- 
ment ; but I am jealous of myself, fearing that 
the pride of the creature is at the bottom. How- 
ever, I was favored to express my feelings to the 
relief of my own mind, and I leave the rest. 
More solid attention I never witnessed on such 
an occasion. Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Moore, 
invited us home with her. We accepted the 
invitation, and next morning (the 13th) returned 
to Peru. ****** 

M. S. 



160 LETTERS OP 

LETTER LXVIII. 

Philadelphia, 4th mo. 21, 1829. 
Dear Charles : 

Sympathy and affection induce me to address 
a few lines to thee, at the same time my feelings 
are so overpowered that I scarcely know how to 
write at all. 

The peculiar circumstances at Plumstead, and 
the seeming necessity for my presence at home, 
on account of domestic affairs, were strong in- 
ducements for me to hasten my return. But 
without being sensible that these objects were 
leading me from the higher one of religious 
duty, I was all prepared to leave on First-day 
morning, as thou hast heard, no doubt, by E. B. 
and L. W.; but during the delay of the boat, in 
consequence of some part of the machinery being 
insufficient, I had time to reflect more fully on 
the expediency of staying a little longer in the 
scene of uncertainty, which I may call it ; for 
such it was, both internally and externally. Fear 
for personal safety assailed me, and involuntarily 
I looked around for a way to escape. Such was 
the perturbation of my mind ; though I do not 
know that there was in fact any danger. But 
when the Burlington came along side to take the 
passengers off, I had no heart to go on board. 
Standing pensive and alone in the midst of a 
crowd, after the friends left me, A. Lower came 
and invited me to go home with him. The key 
of sympathy unlocked the springs of my heart 
and deluged me with tears. And that sympathy, 






MARTHA SMITF. 161 

I think, must have been a participation of thy 
feelings at the disappointment, for I have seemed 
to cease feeling for myself on such occasions. So 
long accustomed have I been to disappointments 
in that way, and so often convinced that true 
peace and solid satisfaction arises from a sub- 
jected will, and dwells only in a devoted heart, 
that as to myself, it matters not where I am, or 
how I fare, if I do but know that I am in the way 
of duty. And the innocent reply of the child 
Jesus to his mother seems applicable to the case 
of every soul that is enlightened by his spirit : 
" Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's 
business.' , 

The Monthly-meetings of this city are to be 
held to-morrow and next day, and after that it is 
probable I may feel released. And I think it 
very probably the best thing for myself to be out 
of the way in the hurry and bustle of the sale at 
Plumstead, though I was quite willing to have 
been there, to assist others. I hope suitable help 
will be procured for sister Sarah. There is no- 
thing to be sold that I feel particularly desirous 
about. I very much desire that all may be done 
in peace and good will, and that the possession 
of our individual rights of property may not 
cause the slightest separation in natural affec- 
tion ; for should that be the case, there may be 
cause almost to regret that there was any thing 
left for us. But at all events, I believe it unsafe 
for me, considering my other engagements, to 
let my mind much into it, or to any thing else of 
14* 



162 LETTERS OP 

a merely temporal nature, at present ; for it is 
emphatically true that we cannot serve two mas- 
ters. When I turn to take a survey of the trials 
and difficulties that may arise to my dear family 
from my leaving them so much, I am always re- 
called from such a view by a remembrance of 
the blessings we have hitherto enjoyed in health 
and peace, that I durst not for a moment indulge 
a thought to wander into a wish foi myself in 
any way, save that of becoming more resigned 
to the Divine Will, which is the cross of Christ ; 
and to become acquainted with, and preserved 
through the efficacy thereof from gross evil, and 
eventually enabled thereby to overcome all the 
fiery darts of the wicked one — the creaturely 
will — is all that I can ask for my precious chil- 
dren, or thou, my dear companion. And the 
further I advance in heavenly mysteries, that is, 
the more these are unfolded to me, the more I 
feel the responsibility of my standing ; that know- 
ing it is grace, divine favor, that has preserved 
me hitherto, and enabled me to come thus far, I 
am bound by all the ties of gratitude to believe, 
that through the same favor I can go through the 
whole process of regeneration, if I keep the 
faith : 

" Through many dangers, toils and snares, 
I have already come ; 

'Twas grace that brought me safe thus far, 
And grace shall lead me on" — 

And also that all others may, through the same 
means, obtain the same great end. I therefore 



MARTHA SMITH. 163 

desire above all things that my fellow beings 
may become acquainted with it, and walk in it, 
and then all will do well. Farewell at present. 

M.S. 



LETTER LXIX. 

Philadelphia, 4th mo. 21, 1829. 
Dear Uncle and Aunt : 

A way now opens for me to address you, and 
I may now inform, that widely as we have been 
separated for many months past, by distance of 
land, and widely as it may be supposed we are 
separated in sentiment, I have deeply sympa- 
thised with you in the trials that I am sensible 
you have had to endure. But as these things, 
let them rise apparently from what cause they 
may, as to external sources, produce an effect on 
the mind in that way we are disposed to receive 
them, and as " all things will work together for 
good to those that love the Lord," I desire that 
none of us may unprofitably look back, or dwell 
in the present, but press on with a single eye to 
the Creator's glory, as the only way in which 
true peace is to be found. 

I may inform you of the decease of our dear 
father, and the peaceful manner of his close, 
which was on the 16th of last month. His 
strength had been gradually giving way for two 
or three years, and he frequently had a kind of 
fainting fits, though I do not know that he had 
been confined to his bed a day at any time during 



164 LETTERS OP 

some months. On First-day, the 14th, a number 
of his friends and neighbors visited him, and he 
expressed the great satisfaction he felt in having 
their company, which he often did on such occa- 
sions. That night he had an ill turn ; brother 
Samuel's were sent for — he was better next day 
— sat in his arm chair most of it — ate his supper, 
and at an early hour retired to bed as usual. Mo- 
ther went to him some little time after. He said 
he did not feel like going to sleep, but lay very 
comfortable. She went to bed and dropped 
asleep. About twelve o'clock he spoke to her, 
and said he was going. She had brother Tho- 
mas and wife aroused. He was much oppressed 
with phlegm, but after taking some drink, lay 
down, and quietly passed away. I was not at 
home, having been engaged during the winter in 
visiting meetings in the State of New- York. I 
had often felt a desire to be at home when this 
change took place, but when I heard of it in the 
city of New- York, it was with no other sensa- 
tion than that of solemn resignation. 

The calmness that had pervaded his mind, for 
the most part, for several years, and especially 
for the last three, evinced that his sun was ap- 
proaching its horizon with increasing serenity. 
That he passed away with so little bodily suffer- 
ing I think an unspeakable favor, so that instead 
of mourning, there is cause to rejoice on his ac- 
count ; and also to thank God and take courage, 
that through the power and efficacy of redeem- 
ing love, we may also experience that of weather- 



MARTHA SMITH. 165 

ing the storm and outriding the tempests that 
are to be met with, more or less frequently, in 
our passage through this world, and at last hap- 
pily reach the haven of eternal rest. M. S. 



LETTER LXX. 

New-York, 11th mo. 21, 1829. 
Dear Charles : 

Since writing my last letter at Purchase, I 
have felt no more liberty to write home than to 
go there, until now ; but such has been the desire 
of my heart for the latter, that I have daily looked 
for light to dawn in that direction. In a few 
hours after cousin S. left me, I was called to 
Samuel Leffert's, on account of the extreme ill- 
ness of Maria Imlay, who was unwell with a 
heavy cold when we first came from the Island, 
after our visit thereon was finished, though not 
then considered dangerous. I went, as requested, 
and found her laboring under deep oppression of 
the lungs, apparently near her end. She was 
sensible, and I was one who listened to direc- 
tions which she gave concerning the distribution 
of her temporal effects. This was done with 
intervals of breathing, for strength to proceed ; 
after which, and correcting what was written 
amiss, she desired us to leave her to rest. The 
doctor proposed her feet and legs being wrapped 
in flannel, wet with hot spirits, which, with a 
little sleep, so revived her that he thought fit to 
give her an emetic. This produced a free dis- 



166 LETTERS OF 

charge, and relieved her so much that she said 
she was as well as any of us ; but so firm was 
the inflammation of that part of her system, that 
though she was frequently relieved by the same 
operation, yet it refused to yield to all our efforts, 
and on Fourth -day evening last, ten minutes be- 
fore nine o'clock, she quietly breathed her last, 
in a sweet sleep. The manner of her departure 
we rejoiced in, having been apprehensive she 
would suffocate. I had been with her almost 
continually from the time I was first called until 
perhaps an hour and a half before she expired. 
Not thinking her end so near, I left her for the 
purpose of obtaining a night's sleep, and also 
with the intention of taking the boat for New 
Brunswick next morning, if there was not a 
change in her, of which I had no foresight ; for 
though from the nature of her disease, her close 
might be expected at any hour, yet from her re- 
maining strength, there appeared a possibility 
of her living several weeks. On Sixth-day night 
she foresaw her approaching end, which was 
beautiful in her view, and attended with a me- 
lody that broke forth in rapturous sounds. She 
expressed the resignation and love that filled her 
soul, that her day's work was done, and all was 
well within. Her remains were taken to the 
meeting-house yesterday at ten o'clock, and after 
a meeting which may be called a solemn one, 
conveyed to the last deposit of mortality. John 
Plummer, of Long Island, bore a short testimony 
to her religious worth, which was very grateful 



MARTHA SMITH. 167 

to her friends. Thus closed a life, nearly all of 
which has been devoted to the cause of truth and 
righteousness. With a mind that rose superior 
to all the conflicting scenes of time, she endured 
the accumulated and peculiar trials of her day, 
and was blessed at last with that evidence of 
acceptance with the Father, which is the crown 
of all. * * * # - * • * 

M.S. 



LETTER LXXI. 

Buchingliam, 1st mo. 18, 1830. 
Dear Brother ; 

Thy answer to my last came duly to hand, and 
should have met its deserved return ere now, 
but that it happened to arrive just after my harp 
of social communication was laid by unstrung, 
and domestic affairs engrossing my hands en- 
tirely, left nothing but the thinking powers at 
liberty, and these, too, rather inclined to revolt 
from the past (as the stale manna) and every 
thing connected with it, excepting that some- 
Ames some of the sympathising ones with whom 
I met in my travels come into view. Among 
these is my dear friend A. L., and but for the 
reason above assigned, I should have written to 
her. I rather suppose that accumulating trials 
have attended and still await her ; but as trial 
proves our faith, it is rather to be rejoiced in 
than lamented over; also, that whatever morti- 
fies or brings into subjection the creature, at the 



168 LETTERS OP 

same time exalts the Creator's power ; therefore 
whenever our fellow beings become the objects 
of these trials, if we search sufficiently deep, we 
shall discover the hand of Providence in, under 
and through all. As to our dear departed Ma- 
ria, it feels of so little consequence what is said 
of her, that it is less than the dust of the balance 
in comparison with that resignation that paved 
her way to a happier sphere. As for any thing 
like a recantation, I do not believe a particle of 
it, and feel sorry that the hyena stalks in spirit 
so boldly within our borders. Poor, dear P. ! I 
hope she will not be deterred from her duty 
amidst the flattering temptations to compromise, 
for the world in any of its allurements. 

With little intermission, I have enjoyed more 
than seven weeks at home, in which time we 
have had the company of many of our friends ; 
but this dear domestic scene must again be given 
up. I have had a minute from the Monthly- 
meeting ever since the Twelfth month last, for 
visiting the Western Quarter, and look to next 
Sixth-day as the time for setting out; — expect to 
go equipped in good order. * * 

M.S. 



LETTER LXXII. 

Buckingham, 3d mo. 5, 1830. 
Dear Brother : 

Thou wilt doubtless think me very deficient 
in attention, by my long silence, when I tell thee 



I 



MARTHA SMITH. 169 

I have been at home all this winter, excepting 
some friendly visits, and some days with a sick 
friend, who is since deceased. Thou wilt per- 
haps he surprised that I have not performed the 
visit mentioned in my last, the day being set on 
which to take our departure. I think my mind 
was fully resigned, or at least resolved to be so, 
for the work. But a circumstance which it is 
not proper to commit to paper, and which I 
could not prevent, intervened — the time passed 
by — and as I could not go in the dark, I returned 
the minute to the Monthly-meeting, and have 
felt perfectly released, thus far, from the service. 
I have enjoyed being at home more than I can 
express, and have enjoyed the winter more than 
ever I remember to have done before. 

The friend with whom I spent some days was 
Hannah Betts, wife of Cyrus, t an innocent young 
woman, and through her last days an instructive 
example of patience and fortitude. She was 
favored with a view of the enjoyment that 
awaited her, more than two weeks before her 
decease. She spoke of it with a zeal and energy 
which such a view could alone inspire. Her 
disease was consumption. * * * * 

M.S. 



LETTER LXXIII. 

Buckingham, 3d mo. 25, 1830. 
Dear Brother: 

* Thy account of the closing 
scene of Elias Hicks was such as was to be 
15 



170 LETTERS OF 

expected from a course of years devoted to the 
cause of truth, in that way which his best judg- 
ment dictated and in the sincerity of his heart he 
believed correct; and from all that in my short 
experience I have gathered as an evidence on 
the mind, an approving conscience. It is that 
sincerity that produces the feeling which is peace 
through life, confidence in death, and fruition in 
eternity. 

4th mo. 20. — On looking at the date of the 
foregoing, I find it is almost a month since I 
commenced. Thy usual feeling and kind for- 
bearance, I trust, will make the allowance. In- 
terruption by company prevented my finishing 
it at the time, and the various duties of domestic 
life afterwards. 

I am now in Philadelphia. I have attended 
the Yearly-meeting, which went on very much 
in the usual way, and am staying to attend the 
Monthly-meeting at Cherrry-street to-morrow. 
It has been with pleasure that I have mingled t 
with much kindred feeling among friends and 
acquaintances — drinking from the same fountain 
of life and love ; and it has been with instruction 
I have viewed among these, some, who from a 
certain cause existing in animal feeling, have 
manifested a repulsive coolness. The habitation 
or dwelling-place of peace to my mind is in the 
Truth ; my hope is the firmness of that foun- 
dation ; and my consolation, the immutability 
thereof ; and thus I feel, as it is expressed in 
Scripture, that "the name of the Lord (his pre 



MARTHA SMITH. 171 

serving, supporting power) is a strong tower," 
unto which the soul can flee and find a safe re- 
treat from the storms of contending passions, the 
distraction of contested opinions, and the confu- 
sion of different tongues ; and from the height 
of this retreat, looks forth upon others with a 
hope that all will eventually come, through the 
progressive stages or states of preparation, into 
the enjoyment of those internal privileges, which, 
after all the struggles therefor, are felt to be the 
gift of mercy, filling the heart of man with gra- 
titude and love ; bursting every cord and op- 
posing barrier, and coming forth in that kind of 
expression which will most effectually relieve the 
pressure ; and hence, though many hearing these, 
might not comprehend the meaning thereof, the 
end is answered, and even that which might be 
supposed a waste by some, proves the anointing 
to others. 

* Since coming to town it has 
been my view to visit New-York again ; but 
whether it will amount to a personal visit to the 
Yearly-meeting or not, is yet to determine ; and 
it is not for me to make the choice. I have heard 
nothing about the proceedings with you, except 
the short sketch thou gave me, but cannot say 
that I feel any solicitude on account thereof. 
There is much, very much, to be done in abo- 
lishing old things, in order to establish the new ; 
and until o]d things are done away, all things 
cannot become new, either in an individual or 
collective capacity. Therefore let everything go 



172 LETTERS OP 

to the fire that is for the fire, and every thing to 
the sword that is for the sword, saith thy affec- 
tionate sister, M. S. 



LETTER LXXIV. 

Buckingham, 6th mo. 22, 1830. 
Dear Brother : 

I read thy last with peculiar satisfaction, as it 
expressed thy fondness for retirement, a disposi- 
tion peculiarly calculated to produce that kind 
of enjoyment befitting rational beings ; and the 
mind that does not possess it, in some degree, 
me thinks must be a miserable waste, at least for 
certain portions of time, and an utter stranger, 
may I not say, to the true excellency of the sub- 
lime precepts and doctrines of Jesus, whose 
every sentence, in my view, goes co draw the 
mind to an investigation of its own premises, the 
contemplation of its own riches and worth, and 
finally, to a settlement in itself, as the abiding 
place of the soul, where all that a reasonable 
being desires is found, and the new or spiritual 
man dwells at home. But I am sensible we may 
retire from the crowd and the hurry of business 
in a state far short of this ; yet that retirement 
and reflection are preparatory steps or instru- 
ments thereto, I firmly believe ; and the mind 
that sets in that channel or course, becomes ha- 
bituated thereto, so that in the midst of society 
or the hurry of business, it knows a secret pa- 
vilion wherein it holds communion with its God. 



MARTHA SMITH. 17 

And to such a mind, I apprehend, there can be 
no unfathomable mystery to pry into, no impene- 
trable secret hanging over his fate ; for immuta> 
ble is the foundation of his hopes, and to him it 
is no cause of concern whether he realise as an 
individual, in a region beyond the stars, those 
fond hopes and expectations which serve as bea- 
cons or talismans in the progressive work of his 
day. He knows that the waters of life will be 
forever and ever flowing, for the replenishing of 
thirsty souls ; and in the glorious certainty of this, 
the creature man is lost. # * * * 

* We remain in health. I have the 
great satisfaction of attending to domestic con- 
cerns, with the assistance of my little girls, two 
of whom go to school. This is the only pri- 
vilege that I feel fearful of, as being particularly 
calculated to ensnare my affections ; and I there- 
fore know the necessity of a willingness to sacri- 
fice it, whenever duty calls. 

I mentioned in my last the extracts from the 
late Yearly-meeting, and the burthen it was to 
me to hear them. I attended Falls Monthly- 
meeting the same week, where they were read 
again, which opened the way for some (I hope) 
useful discussion. # * * * * 

M.S. 
15* 



174 LETTERS OP 

LETTER LXXV. 

Bucking7ia?n, 10th mo, 15, 1830. 
Dear Brother : 

* * * * I feel but little to say 

respecting Society affairs at present. They all 
seem like something almost out of sight. New 
meetings may be set up, and new orders of dis- 
cipline instituted, and probably instead of ad- 
vancing the great cause of truth and righteous- 
ness in the earth, they will be additional impedi- 
ments to individual improvement, which is the 
basis of all reformation. My almost constant 
feeling, of late, has been a weariness of earthly 
things, and a kind of sickening at the view of so 
much bustle about religion, while there is evi- 
dently so much of it lacking. But I am not in a 
mood to say much at present. I am deliberating, 
or rather I am waiting, to see whether the ba- 
lance will turn in favor of going to Baltimore or 
not ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ # # 

M.S. 



LETTER LXXVI. 

Btcckingham, 11th mo. 30, 1830. 
Dear Brother : 

* * * * In my last letter I men- 
tioned that I thought of going to Baltimore, but 
was undetermined. I will now go back and in- 
form thee of some circumstances that transpired 
in the course of last summer. I think I informed 
thee of the reading of the extracts from the 



MARTHA SMITH. 175 

Yearly-meeting in the Monthly-meeting, last 
Sixth month ; that I expressed my feelings fully 
on the occasion, and had received a visit from a 
Friend on account of my so doing. We had 
considerable conversation on the subject, and 
finding he could not convince me of an error, 
and further, that I justified the ground I had 
taken, he left me, after saying it was not worth 
while for us to talk any more. The Friend was 

L. He had been in the habit of calling and 

conversing freely on subjects connected with 
Society, and though we did not agree in opinion 
respecting the ordinances thereof, we had always 
been perfectly friendly, and I had no thought of 
that circumstance, interrupting our social inter- 
course, at the time ; but so it proved ; — he never 
called again. At the Monthly-meeting in the 
Eighth month, I mentioned a feeling of duty to 
attend Ohio, Indiana and Baltimore Yearly- 
meetings, and some meetings as way opened in 
the journey. After receiving the free concur- 
rence of the women's meeting, I went to the 
men's, and informed them of the prospect. I 

think L. was the first one that spoke, saying 

he did not feel that unity to flow through his 
mind that would warrant him in expressing it. 
Several gave their assent to my going, and seve- 
ral others expressed they had no disposition to 
prevent me from it. One saw no further about 
it than to appoint a committee to confer with me, 

and adjourn the Monthly-meeting. L. 

united with that, as did several others. My im- 



176 LETTERS OP 

pressions became very strong that this course 
was the effect of prior disaffection, and that some 
secret plan was concealed underneath ; and after 
expressing that impression, without objecting to 
the proposed conference, I informed them I 
thought it best for me to leave them to agree 
among themselves on the subject, which I then 
did, and the meeting afterward dividing into 
three parts, viz : unity, disunity, and disapproba- 
tion of a committee of conference upon the 
ground that it was the peculiar province of this 
Monthly-meeting to decide in such cases. Thus 
they could come to no point but a negative on 
my proposition. 

My feelings were acute on the occasion, that 
within the compass of three short years, those 
who had professedly supported my claim to 
liberty of conscience, against the stern front of 
church power, had opposed, in the course of the 
term above named, a committee of the same kind 
as now proposed, should take such a stand in the 
face of all their former pretensions to unity and 
fellowship, was rather more than I expected. 
However I was bound, they had put on those 
very shackles as a pretext for setting me at 
liberty, and I must proclaim independence at 
once if I did not submit. I was blessed in feel- 
ing that I had done my duty, and that if it should 
be my duty to proceed without the meeting's 
concurrence, I was bound in the covenant of life 
to obey. My mind remained calm, and without 
an evidence of more being required, until the 



MARTHA SMITH. 177 

time of Tenth month Monthly-meeting drew 
nigh, when I looked forward to renewing, or ra- 
ther informing them again of an expectation of 
attending Baltimore Yearly-meeting, and went 
to the Monthly -meeting in full expectation of so 
doing ; but the thing died so completely with me, 
that I had no liberty to mention it. I then sup- 
posed it was all over, and that the three hung so 
entirely together that I was not permitted to di- 
vide what had been a united concern. For some 
days after the Monthly-meeting these were my 
thoughts ; but then Baltimore again appeared, 
with the view that I could go to Philadelphia, 
get on board the steamboat, and land in the for- 
mer place at evening, and there was no reason- 
able excuse why I should not comply. It would 
not be a direct violation of discipline, at least not 
an unprecedented one. I could go without any 
particular companion ; thus no one need be im- 
plicated with me ; and thus the balance stood 
when I last wrote to thee, while I watched the 
preponderating beam without any anxiety as to 
the event, when it turned in favor of going. 
Though undecided in the evening as to setting 
out, on waking next morning early, feeling rather 
confirmed, T arose and prepared ; a friend that 
was going, having offered me a conveyance to 
Philadelphia, called, and we proceeded. 

T felt no pleasure in any external circumstance 
attending it, in anticipation, well knowing the 
deep-rooted veneration for what is termed the 
order, to have overspread the Society almost as a 



178 LETTERS OP 

leprosy ; but knowing also that my safety de- 
pended upon the frowns rather than the smiles- 
of men, under the present state of things, I 
was induced to rejoice in secret that I was once 
more reduced to the necessity of stemming the 
current of popularity. 

* * I attended the sittings of both 
select and Yearly-meetings, had free, open ser- 
vice therein, and, upon the whole, never enjoyed 
such a season more. Attended Philadelphia 
Quarterly-meeting, also Abington Quarter, on 
my return. The Yearly-meeting was said to be 
one of the most harmonious that had ever been 
attended. It was indeed somewhat remarkable ; 
but how often have we seen the severest storms 
succeed the serenest days. I rather think our 
cousin is on the improving hand, and if So- 
ciety does not get alarmed, lay hands too sud- 
denly upon him, and so interrupt his progress, 
he may become perfected into an instrument of 
true honor in the cause of righteousness. * 

M.S. 



LETTER LXXVII. 

Buckingham, 2d mo. 27, 1S31. 
Dear Brother : 

# * # There are two paragraphs in 

thy last that I consider worth a direct reply. 

First, as to the motives of my friend L., 

thy observations may be just, for aught I know ; 
those on the connection of the various members 



MARTHA SMITH. 179 

of the mind, or inner man, I think perfectly so ; 
and as the members of the body are all and each 
set in operation by an instinctive influence of 
the brain (so said,) the peculiar inhabitant of the 
head, so all the members of the soul are set in 
operation by that intelligence which is the first 
fruit of intellectual life, and proceeds from the 
head or fountain of that life, they will operate in 
harmony together ; and that faculty called reason, 
or the capacity for reasoning, comparing, and 
forming conclusions, so as to fix a true judgment, 
being the staple or key which turns and sustains 
the whole. As all the powers or faculties of the 
mind are kept within the sphere of its attractive 
influence, the balance is kept up, and a proper 
equilibrium of the powers and propensities is 
experienced. For there is not one true enjoy- 
ment but what is rational, and there can be no 
real sorrow of soul but out of the divine har- 
mony. But such are the effects of education ; — 
beclouded views, bewildering opinions, and ima- 
ginations fostered in the fire of zeal which is not 
according to true knowledge — that it seems as if 
the true tone of the soul might be lost amidst the 
variety of impressions that enter it through the 
medium of the two animal senses, seeing and 
hearing. Perhaps it is out of this wilderness 
state of things that the true church will eventu- 
ally emerge, fair as the sun, whose dazzling 
brightness would put out or destroy the vision of 
those who should be so injudicious as to gaze on 
its full, blazing orb, yet clear as the moon to those 



180 LETTERS OF 

who view her as reflecting her light on all the *" 
heavenly host ; and terrible as an army with 
banners, arrayed in all the dignity of Truth, 
marching with a firm, steady and even step, her 
banners the olive and white, emblems of peace 
and righteousness, bearing down upon all false 
pretensions, and deceptive appearances of re- 
ligion. 

To return to » L. Of the effects of his 

sudden turn of feeling and manners on my mind, 
I can say but little. I have not been sensible of 
its producing an injurious effect thereon, but it 
furnished it with another evidence of the dupli- 
city of man, while under the ministration of an 
outward law, which I see so much of that I have 
feared it would beget a jealousy in me, that may 
eat out what is called charity, but which I belie've 
amounts to no more than a kind of benevolent 
allowance for the frailties of humanity. For 
true charity I believe to be that divine feeling 
which embraces the souls of mankind, without 
seeing even the wickedness of their ways. * 
* * * * I may inform thee that we 
have just returned from a visit to the meetings 
of the Western Quarter; — I received the ap- 
probation of our Monthly-meeting in the First 
month. * * # In this little tour we 

enjoyed entire harmony of feeling, both in the 
social and religious part of it, though we had to 
encounter something which it is better not to 
commit to paper. All these things, I find, are 
of little or no consequence to me when they are 



MARTHA SMITH. 181 

past ; the motive that 1 have had being simply to 
do my duty, whatever attends me therein; whe- 
ther good or bad (so called,) I feel to receive as 
arising out of the nature of things, and all 
equally beneficial in their time and place. And 
here I understand the application of a language 
in Scripture : " Oh ! that my people were wise ; 
that they would consider this : often to think of 
their latter end," (or last end,) the object of all 
our hopes and wishes. The last and highest end 
of our desires is happiness, which is distinguished 
by everlasting happiness, as that will endure for- 
ever. To come then to the simple point of fear- 
ing God and keeping his commandments, or, in 
other words, so have our wishes and desires cir- 
cumscribed within the limits of the present mo- 
ment — we come to be released from anxiety as 
to how we shall fare on the morrow, and finding 
herein that to do the best we can at the present 
makes way for the future ; and by a right under- 
standing of this, there is ability furnished to 
improve therein, and thus the kingdom of Hea- 
ven is within the sphere of our comprehension 
and attainment. ***** 

M.S. 



LETTER LXXVIII. 

Plumstcad, 11th mo. 30, 1831. 
Dear Brother : 

* * * I suppose rumor has been loud 

afar off, as it has been near home, respecting 
16 



182 LETTERS OF 

me ; but it is long since its slanderous tongue has 
had any effect upon my feelings, except to add 
still further to the many evidences we have had, 
how much mankind, in an unregenerate state, 
are disposed to leave their own vineyards in 
neglect, to look after those of their neighbors ; 
also how entirely incapable such are of compre- 
hending the purposes of those whose time and 
talents are no longer at their own control. 

12th mo. 13. — I take up the pen in order to 
finish this letter; for recollections of my neglect 
continually reproach me therewith. It is mostly 
an effort for me to write upon subjects relating to 
Society, as I deem it important that what is put 
upon paper, of a sentimental character, should 
be substantially useful ; and feeling to have lost 
the idea that a sub-society, with all its operations, 
can be of much more use to the universal society 
of mankind, I do not attach much consequence 
to them in any way, and none as to myself. Re- 
formation after reformation has already shown 
us, that those bodies, shortly after stepping out 
of the mother church and establishing themselves 
in power, begin to practice upon their own 
members what they felt to be oppressive, and 
for which they had come out from under the 
yoke ; that such is the light and intelligence of 
mankind at this day, that each one who is faith- 
ful may see the importance of standing upon 
their own feet, and walking erect, instead of 
leaning upon others or lingering with the multi- 
tude. ***** M. S. 



MARTHA SMITH. 183 

LETTER LXXIX. 

Plumstead, 5th mo. 3, 1832. 
Dear Brother : 

* * * * Thee mentions E. H. 

being in New- York. I can wish him Godspeed, 
for whatever his private sentiments as to the 
practical operation of internal light may be, I 
trust it must always be a leading point in his 
preaching ; and if he should sometimes deny it 
when it comes forth, because of the place or 
manner of its appearance, it is no more than 
others before him have done who were highly 
gifted in the light of prophecy ; and I rather 
think with Paul, that I rejoice " if Christ be 
preached, even through contention and strife," 
hoping there will always be discriminating minds 
amongst the hearers, who will catch the truth, 
and gather the wheat that falls, although there 
may be an almost beclouding quantity of chaff 
blowing around. ***** 

M.S. 



LETTER LXXX. 

Plumstead, 5th mo. 17, 1832. 
Dear Brother : 

* If I go to New- York, I should 
be at least on my way as far as Greenville, and 
that is now my prospect ; though from the entire 
silence on the subject in thy last, I conclude thee 
thinks there is nothing auspicious to be expected 
in New York from such a visit. But as to my- 



184 LETTERS OF 

self, I find such an abstractedness of mind, that 
the whole world appears to be out of view, and 
I stand accountable as a moral agent to God 
alone ; that as such an agent to such a Power, 
or vested with such a trust, the work of the soul's 
salvation, or the securing of eternal substance 
by the means given, is the work of my day. And 
shall I, coward like, forsake the path of duty, 
and enquire of a frowning world whether I had 
better act up to the trust, or turn traitor and em- 
bezzle the Master's goods, his rightful due ; or, 
taking that portion of them which He giveth me 
into a far country, riot thereon in the smiles of 
Society favor and the transient gleam of worldly 
applause \ I feel not the slightest temptation to 
such a step, and amidst the jar that fills the 
streets of Babylon, hear not, and amidst all the 
wares of her merchants, see nothing inviting. 
One entire calm pervades my mind as to the re- 
sult thereof, and I unite with thy views, as ex- 
pressed in thy last, respecting the utility of the 
venerable old fabric. Whilst there is one comer 
of one of its most extended wings that will shel- 
ter the lame, the halt and the blind with safety. I 
say, let it stand. It seems almost as though tl 
last solitary refuse would be destroved by the 
misguided zeal of those who are striving to sus- 
tain the entire pile. Thus their veneration for 
the decayed parts, may endanger that which is 
yet sound. * * * * * 

I have wandered widely from the subject 
pon which I commenced, but would not have 



MARTHA SMITH. 185 

thee suppose that this digression is the result of 
any distrust of thy entire good will and regard 
for the welfare of thy sister, but rather conclude 
that business of greater importance than reli- 
gious squabbles have occupied thy attention. * 
# I shall probably leave home on Fourth- 
day, and shall be pleased, on my arrival at New- 
York, to meet thee on the wharf, or, if it w T ili 
suit thy convenience, at New Brunswick. 

M. S 



LETTER LXXXT. 

Plumstead, 8th mo. 1 3 1832. 
Dear Brother : 

* * We have been looking 

with some anxiety for more than a week for a 
letter from thee, until this evening we heard one 
had been received by Dr. Wilson, bearing intel- 
ligence of the death of Dr. H., a stroke which 
I suppose must fall heavy upon thy feelings, and 
has somewhat aroused our apprehensions for thy 
safety ; and although, as I observed in a former 
letter, the health of our neighborhood holds out 
no very flattering inducement as a retreat, yet 
from Dr. Stephens's remarks, there is reason to 
hope that Cholera will not find subjects much 
exposed to its assaults, in the free, open atmos- 
phere of the country. * * * * 

8th mo. 2. — This day I received thine of the 
30th of last month, the reading of which ha£ 
deeply affected my feelings, from experimental 
16* 



186 LETTERS OP 

knowledge of the emotions occasioned by losing 
a near and intimate friend, one whose mental en- 
dowments and habits of life rendered her both an 
ornament and valuable member of the commu- 
nity. Such, ?s those who best knew her can 
testify, was Sarah, wife of H. B. E.; and even at 
this distant period, the blank that is left in so- 
ciety by her removal, at times, when brought 
into view, casts a shade of sorrow over my mind 
which is followed by a copious flow of sympa- 
thy. From the character thee gives of thy late 
friend, Dr. H., it appears like a promising fruit- 
tree suddenly torn up and destroyed by a ruthless 
tornado. Such losses continue to be felt, long 
after the circumstances which produced them 
have been forgotten. The separation from those 
whose attractive virtues have entwined them in- 
timately into our better feelings, in despite of 
our firmest philosophy and fullest belief in the 
propriety of all the dispensations of Providence, 
our weaker natures often mourn, as for a severed 
limb. But I will leave the touching subject. 
The present time emphatically recalls the lan- 
guage — "Weep not for those that are gone, but 
for those that remain;" if there is indeed any 
time to stand and weep. It has been with me 
for some weeks past rather a time of serious, 
sober perseverance in social and domestic duties. 
I have for years believed it of the greatest mo- 
ment, that our day's work be done in the day 
time; and thus if obedience keep pace with 
knowledge, we shall none of us have any thing 



MARTHA SMITH. 187 

to fear from Death, but can rather look to it as 
a rest for the soul, wearied with the toils, anxie- 
ties and vicissitudes inseparable from its tenure 
in an earthly tabernacle, finds repose on the pil- 
lowed feeling of having been faithful to the best 
of its ability. M. S. 



LETTER LXXXII. 

Plumstead, 12th mo. 20, 1832. 
Dear Brother: 

* "Worldly cares break in and 
derange that fitness of things, which, if uninter- 
rupted, would render the moral world an Eden. 
So delicate is that finely constructed musical in- 
strument, the human mind, that the least touch 
of a key out of the right order, disturbs the me- 
lody ; hence so much discord and mangling (if I 
may so term it,) instead of that musical harmony 
which soothes and softens the passions, refines 
the feelings and exalts the heart. There can be 
no study more interesting than the construction 
thereof; and for man to become intimately ac- 
quainted with the nature of his own mind, and 
to keep it properly attuned, is certainly accom- 
plishing the end of his being; that true indeed is 
one of the answers in the Catechism : " The chief 
end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him" — 
corresponding also with a passage in Scripture : 
11 O! that my people were wise ; that they would 
consider this, often to think of their latter end. ,, 
The latter or ultimate end of man's pecular cha- 



188 LETTERS OP 

racter and endowments being happiness, to be- 
come fully acquainted with his mental powers, 
and to concentrate them all upon the one grand 
point, is to glorify or display the greatness of 
that First Cause, or moving principle of intelli- 
gence, called God, and thus called because it is 
the supreme object of love and veneration to 
every enlightened mind. Hence the substantial 
enjoyment arising from the true understanding 
and application of his immortal powers ; and thus 
we see the importance of every preliminary step, 
as "O! that my people were wise," &c. — that 
they would be wise enough to ponder the letters 
of the spiritual alphabet, and become capable of 
recognizing them at the first glance, however 
complicated and interwoven into words and sen- 
tences, or in more simple terms, attend to those 
innate impressions which bring a sensible degree 
of satisfaction to the mind. Thus, by strict at- 
tention and obedience, the spiritual or mental 
sense of feeling becomes so quick, that they are 
readily understood, and so the slightest deviation 
is perceived by'the discord, or sense of sadness, 
that is felt. In this way, I conceive, we may 
account for many of the actions of the newly 
awakened, where things are done seemingly un- 
important, and oft times insignificant, to those 
around, yet of the highest consequence to the 
child of faith ; and, to return to the simile of the 
music, the characters or signs on the note-book, 
I suppose all teach the variety of keys required 
to make up one harmonious whole. It is some- 



MARTHA SMITH. 189 

what singular that such a comparison should 
present, but it did so in that way that I never 
disregard without compunction. * * * 

Now, when we consider the progress of mea- 
sures taken for the help and amendment of so- 
ciety, that a resort to committees has been the 
last pacific resource, we have every reason to 
believe that some momentous issue awaits us. 
And here I break in upon the subject to acknow- 
ledge the gratitude T feel in that my hold on 
society is broken off, and that the confidence I 
once had in the building is now transferred to 
the great Builder alone ; that let what come that 
may in a collective capacity, the glorious privi- 
lege of individual labor, and the blessed reward 
of individual faithfulness, remains to us all. * 



LETTER LXXXIII. 

Plumstead, 6th mo. 16, 1833. 
Dear Brother : 

# I have been this afternoon to 
a meeting appointed by one of the Christian bre- 
thren, at a school-house in Milton ; but the house 
being too small to contain the audience, we sat 
under the shade of the trees, and had a solemn, 
instructive meeting. There is a peculiar felicity 
of feeling when we meet as brethren under the 
broad canopy of heaven, or within walls un- 
known to the rigid rules of sectarian order. If 
the speaker, too, is unbiassed by them, the train 



190 LETTERS OF 

of his discourse, h arm on i sing with feelings of 
pure and untrammelled devotion, leads the mind 
imperceptibly away from those sensations which 
are so foreign to the benign influence of the 

I was interested in the concerns of your 
Yearly-meeting, which thou had the kindness to 
communicate to me, but was surprised to find 
still remaining such traces of superstitious vene- 
ration for a yearly which I have long since 
travelled out of or lost. But so it is with us ; — 
on a cursory view we are almost astonished to 
find that others do not see and feel just as we do, 
when a moment's reflection silences the busy 
" meddler with other people's concerns, " and 
we travel on in the sphere of our own. 

Our Quarterly-meeting was the most uninte- 
resting I ever remember to have sat in. It was 
mostly silent, except the reading of the extracts, 
and a labored general epistle from the Yearly- 
meeting. The evident decline of life in those 
letter-le arned essays, as well as the whole of our 
established system, is manifest, like every thing 
else in created nature subject to decline, and 
methinks all that is wanting to reconcile the 
people to their dissolution, is a right understand- 
ing thereof; and not taking this view of it, many 
are mourning, and lamenting, like " women 
weeping for Tamar." Anxious to find out the 
cause, the more sincere-hearted are ready to 
conclude the fault is in themselves, and go with 
their heads bowed down like a bulrush. Others 



MARTHA SMITH. 191 

lay the fault upon their fellow travellers, for the 
neglect of duty, and the observance of the rites 
comparable to " days and times ;" and hence the 
pure stream of light and intelligence has to make 
its progress through bogs, quagmires, rocks and 
rubbish of the various dispositions of which the 
human mind is composed. Yet, glorious hope, 
or rather glorified certainty, through these it is 
working its way, like the gentle but powerful 
stream from a living spring, to the vast ocean 
from which it is originally supplied. M. S. 



LETTER LXXXIV. 

Philadetylda, 9th mo. 17, 1833. 
Dear Brother : 

* * The subject alluded to in thy 

last, that has agitated our Society in a particular 
manner, and seems to have excited considerable 
interest in the public mind, is one that has never 
claimed a serious thought of mine. The deci- 
sion may be fraught with important consequences 
to general society, in which we must all partake. 
If judicial decisions should deprive us of all our 
places of worship, (so called,) those decisions 
cannot interfere with the hallowed temple of the 
heart, and that is the only place of worship that 
I believe in. Therefore, for myself, I have no- 
thing to fear, but a common sympathy for those 
to whom the loss of the outer court would be 
like the loss of the right eye or arm. Trusting 
in that power which rightly regulates all things, 



192 LETTERS OP 

I can see that those very idols are what must be 
destroyed; and those pleasant places, the groves 
that must be cut down, in order to establish the 
true worship of the living God. # * * 

M.S. 



LETTER LXXXV. 

Plumstead, 3d mo. 22, 1835. 
Dear Brother : 

#•*•..# \V e ]] ) the winter season has 
passed away, but we hear little as yet of the 
singing of birds, only occasionally, for a day or 
two. The winter season is one of peculiar en- 
joyment to me, and I look back with pleasure to 
the past one, in which the cares of a family com- 
posed of fifteen, sink into oblivion, and the hours 
during the day, snatched from more active du- 
ties, to sit and sew by the window, in a comfort- 
able room, the long evenings, and mornings 
lengthened by rising from one to two hours be- 
fore the sun, — only remain as happy mementos 
of cares and comforts concentrated to the narrow 
confines of in-door existence. Every season of 
the year is exquisitely charming, but the wide- 
spread cares of spring and summer take off 
something from the enjoyment of those seasons, 
whilst the outward dreariness of winter is com- 
pensated by the opportunity afforded for retire- 
ment and reflection. It appears to me that the 
winter of life must partake of that kind of serene 
enjoyment, to those whose time and talents have 
been rightly employed. M. S. 



MARTHA SMITH. 193 

LETTER LXXXVI. 

Plumstead, 8th mo. 23, 1835. 
Dear Brother: 

* # Thy reference to P. for 

information respecting any subject of importance 
which may have recently occurred in Society, 
bespeaks a declining interest on thy part, upon 
those topics, perhaps about equal to my own ; 
for, in fact, when at home, my domestic duties so 
entirely engross my attention, that I rarely think 
of them enough to ask questions and attend to 
the answers. When I consider the vast revolu- 
tion that has taken place in the little sphere of 
my own mind in that respect, I am induced to 
examine the ground minutely upon which I now 
stand ; and under the examination, I have seen, 
that having made every sacrifice that was called 
for, and performed every duty required, to the 
best of my understanding and ability, in my 
earlier years, I now feel it a great blessing to be 
released therefrom and left at liberty to attend 
to those temporal duties which I once could and 
did relinquish for the higher ones of a more spi- 
ritual nature. And though my heart occasion- 
ally expands with a prospective view of distant 
friends and distant lands, with the glorious testi- 
mony of light, liberty and truth, yet not feeling 
the expediency of permanently going forth with 
that testimony, the mind returns as to an anchor 
in port, the hope and the belief that kindred 
spirits commingle, the world over, and that the 
testimony above is being proclaimed and will be 
17 



194 LETTERS OP 

proclaimed, though I may not again pass the 
threshold of my door on such a mission. # * 

24th — evening. — Having accomplished the 
business of the day, I lop a few minutes from 
my pillow to finish this letter. We have some 
most appalling accounts in our late papers re- 
specting the riots in Baltimore, of which thou 
art doubtless apprised through the same channel. 
I do not feel any comment to make on the sub- 
ject. An account of the destructive fires in your 
city, I also read in the same paper, and was 
thinking, whilst I was reading, whether any of 
thy particular friends were sufferers. But some 
one's friends were, most certainly ; and. making 
the case our own will teach us to feel for all the 
afflicted as brethren. * * * * 

M.S. 



LETTER LXXXVII. 

Solebury, 9th mo. 10, 1836. 
Dear Brother : 

Again my mind has come to the point of ad- 
dressing thee through this medium. But what 
shall I say 1 To go back and retrace the past 
for several months, I fear, would require more 
nerve than I have at command ; for I must ac- 
knowledge that the severing from that chain 
which encircles our natural affections on earth, 
(alluded to in thy sympathising letter of Sth 
mo.,) the interesting link of a daughter, whose 
every virtue appeared to expand with her de- 



MARTHA SMITH. 195 

clining health, and whose real worth shone forth 
in more conspicuous colors with her setting sun t 
has shaken my fortitude to the last degree ; yet 
when I contemplate her tranquil decline and 
close, the many cares, anxieties and penalties in- 
separable from this state of existence, from 
which she is now removed, there is nothing but 
joy and gladness on her account. Still, the affect- 
ing recollection of every scene in which she 
acted a part, or was in some way connected, 
seems to revive with increased force, as thoughts 
of her sufferings fade away in the distance of 
time. The lone situation of her companion, too, 
thus widowed ere his twenty-fifth year was com- 
pleted — but it is useless to dwell upon subjects 
which thus press upon the affections. # * # 

M. S. 



LETTER LXXXVIII. 

Solebury, 9th mo. 12, 1836. 
Mv Esteemed Cousin : 

* * # # My next apology is 

that our daughter, whose declining health had 
claimed much of my attention during the last 
winter, and exclusively so from the first week 
in the Fifth month, deceased in two days after 
I received it. 

Her mind had appeared to be uniformly tran- 
quil, and, we have reason to believe, prepared 
for the event that ensued. Her close was so- 
lemnly serene, and for her we have cause to 



196 LETTERS OF 

rejoice. But the severing of such a link in the 
chain of human connections, proved more keenly 
affecting than I had anticipated, and my mind 
seemed constrained to yield its stronger energies, 
for a time, to the influence of the affections. 
She had been married about eighteen months 
to an interesting companion, whose youth, and 
consequent inexperience in the vicissitudes of 
life, render him, in a peculiar manner, an object 
of our deepest sympathy and solicitude. But 
he has been abundantly favored with the forti- 
tude of a Christian, under a bereavement, which, 
in anticipation, he almost concluded would be 
insupportable. Her age was twenty-one years, 
two months and two weeks. * * 

And now, with respect to the momentous sub- 
ject which'involves the happiness of millions now 
in existence and millions yet unborn, what can 
we say 1 Though I fully unite with thee in dis- 
approving the position which some appear to 
take, of keeping still, because of the excitement, 
which they are pleased to term the whirlwind 
and fire, I believe with them, and rejoice in it, 
that oppression w T ill cease as regards African 
slavery, and they will be free. But as to such 
an event coming about without the requisite 
means, or without excitement, it is not to be ex- 
pected. On the contrary, in the very nature of 
things, that keen sense of wrong implanted in 
the rational mind by its beneficent Creator, must 
ever rise indignant in proportion as that wrong 
becomes manifest. Hence all the zeal that has 



MARTHA SMITH. 197 

ever been manifested in the great work of reform 
of every description. Hence that unyielding 
perseverance in Jesus of Nazareth, which led 
him to the cross, and gave to the world of man- 
kind an example of unswerving adherence to the 
path of known duty. And it might be well for 
some that recommend stillness (which seems in 
the common acceptation of the term to imply a 
listless inactivity on the part of man) so strenu- 
ously to others, because of some reason or other 
which, no doubt, they think well founded, to set 
the example entirely, and say nothing on either 
side. 

There were some remarks made in one of our 
committee-meetings last spring, which forcibly 
revived in my memory Mordecai's reply to 
Esther, when the lives of her countrymen were 
at stake, and he had proposed that she should 
use her influence with the king for the repeal of 
an edict to that effect. She, fearing the king's 
displeasure if she should presume to approach 
him without a certain signal in the royal order, 
plead her excuse. But mark the spirited man- 
ner in which she was reproved; "Think not 
with thyself that thou shalt escape, in the king's 
house, more than all the Jews. For if thou alto- 
gether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall 
there enlargement and deliverance arise to the 
Jews from another place ; but thou and thy fa- 
ther's house shall be destroyed : and who know- 
eth whether thou art come to the kingdom for 
such a time as this V 9 And we may remark the 
17* 



198 LETTERS OP 

happy consequences resulting from the course 
she took. That while I disunite with every 
thing like that fearful apprehension of mind 
which recognizes giants and anakims in every 
appearance that has not been fully tested by ex- 
perience, I approve of each individual proving 
for himself the firmness of the ground, by set- 
ting his foot thereon before he trusts his whole 
weight. And as the sincere mind is always on 
the watchtower, it marks every movement of 
importance in its different subjects, and hence 
receives a qualification to act with promptness 
and decision, agreeably to the nece'ssities of the 
case. 

There are certain temperaments in the human 
family, which take fire as it were at the opposi- 
tion or apathy which they discover in others with 
regard to some all-absorbing subject. When 
people go about to prevent excitement, they 
would do well to study the best means for 
doing it, or they may doubly increase the fer- 
ment, while they suppose themselves in the act 
of allaying it. 

The interest I took in the subject last spring 
was quite involuntary, or rather the active steps 
I took therein ; and it is possible I may not 
again see cause publicly to identify myself with 
the Abolitionists ; but the testimony I have long 
held against slavery and oppression, if carried 
out, strikes at the very root of the matter ; but 
there is where some of us fail, and balk the tes- 
timony, in our religious orders, in our every day 



MARTHA SMITH. 199 

intercourse with men, or our domestic circle. In 
the present imperfect order of things, there is 
mnr-h to dp.plore, yet we certainly shall not ad- 
vance much in reform, either as respects Society 
errors or self defects, if we stand contemplating 
them too much . The path of improvement leads 
on, as said Christ, " Go and sin no more/' and 
happily for mankind, there is no more required 
of them than to live aright in the present time. 
To-day, is the divine injunction, and "take no 
thought for the morrow ; let the morrow take 
thought for the things of itself ;" plainly indi- 
cating that the present moment is the time for 
us to occupy our talents, and to occupy them 
aright. The next moment, or the next circum- 
stance that calls for our exertions of mind, or ac- 
tion of limb, truth will appear with greater or 
clearer light, as the nature of the case may re- 
quire. Faith, confirmed in the hope of success, 
gives energy to the mind, and in that it rises 
above the difficulties at which it would otherwise 
stumble, or perhaps utterly fall. And now I 
would that all might be encouraged to persevere 
in what they find to do. 

Affectionately, thy cousin, M. S. 



LETTER LXXXIX. 

Ncw-Yor7c, 4th mo. 28, 1S37. 
My Dear Jane : 

The circumstance of a brother's indisposition 
required my attention in this city immediately 



200 LETTERS OF 

after my return home from Philadelphia ; in con* 
sequence of which, I was obliged to forego the 
satisfaction of attending our little Anti-Slavery 
meeting, which took place the same day I left 
Pennsylvania ; and also that of seeing and hear- 
ing C. C. Burleigh scattering the seeds of con- 
victive evidence through our section of the 
country, in the powerful arguments he produces 
against slavery itself, as the corrupt tree, the 
branches and fruit of which being of the same 
nature, must or will of necessity, in the nature 
of things, bring forth all the consequences which 
facts and observation are continually spreading 
before the view of an awakened and awakening 
public. Those seeds being sown in the mind, 
require all the attention of its possessor, to che- 
rish and bring them forth into view in effective 
action. And every thing in the order of nature 
goes to prove, not only the utility, but the abso- 
lute necessity, of co-operation as a means of car- 
rvinsr on the designs of our Creator. The same 
Power that has furnished the ground, sends forth 
his instruments to sow the seed — breaks forth 
with the warming influences of the sun, in the 
expansion of that feeling of benevolence and 
humanity which impels us to embrace every op- 
portunity for mitigating the afflictions of our fel- 
low beings. In this sympathy of feeling we 
have an evidence of our affinity, as children of 
one common Parent, the diffusion of whose di- 
vinity runs through the various channels of con- 
nection, as the vital stream, passing through the 



MARTHA SMITH. 201 

heart of the animal system, invigorates and sup- 
ports every member thereof. How corrupt and 
corrupting, then, has been and forever must be 
the influence that has gone to derange a system 
created to harmonise in all its parts. Behold, in 
the first instance, a disposition to counteract the 
divine command ; next, an active acquiescence, 
by partaking of a forbidden thing ; and how soon 
was it carried out in forcibly slaying what 
seemed to stand as an obstacle in the way of its 
full enjoyment. Here may be seen the oiigin, 
progress and end of a spirit that is emphatically 
called a liar and a murderer. Solemn, then, is 
the consideration, that this spirit of evil can only 
act through the medium of man, an intelligent, 
accountable being. If by watchfulness and 
prayer alone, then, we are to be preserved from 
becoming instruments in perverting the benevo- 
lent designs of Providence, we are most so- 
lemnly called upon so steadily to walk in that 
light which hath enlightened the understanding 
of man, as to perceive amid the various occur- 
rences of the day in which we live, tvhat we have 
to do. If, in such a walk, the leading concern 
of the mind is to do whatsoever is right, I must 
conclude there is no danger of being misled, but 
that the secret aspiration of the soul being thus : 
" Thy will, and not mine, be done" — the animal 
machine, together with the whole body of intel- 
lectual powers, will come into co-operation with 
the moving principle thereof, which is Love. But 
if instead of this, the fear of man, in any of its 



202 LETTERS OF 

transformations, have its seat in the mind, and 
rule there, then indeed are we in danger on 
every hand ; in danger of strengthening the 
bonds of iniquity, in that our feet, our hands and 
our tongues are not used in bearing testimony 
against it ; in danger of destroying our own 
peace, and forever closing the door of mercy on 
ourselves, by standing aloof when we might enter 
in thereat ; — and thus, instead of realising a 
continual increase of light and understanding, 
of quietness and assurance in our minds, of faith 
and confidence in the power of truth, we volun- 
tarily place ourselves on the ground where every 
opposite of those inestimable privileges may 
constantly assail us. These things I write as 
belonging or applicable to a mind that has an 
ear to hear the language of the spirit. And in 
consideration of these things, I have found it 
both needful and expedient to avail myself of 
every opportunity of getting information that 
may confirm my faith herein, as regards the 
Anti-Slavery cause. In this, many steps that I 
have taken may seem to be merely casual, and 
to gratify a curiosity to hear; but they have been, 
in fact, to me, acts of religious duty ; for such I 
am bound to consider every duty devolving on 
one who duly considers his or her ways. And 
however slight the impression may have been, 
in every instance I have met with an ample 
reward. 

* * * * The three books particu- 
larly named for my own perusal, I brought with 



MARTHA SMITH. 203 

me, and found much enjoyment in reading them 
to my brother and another friend, unto whom I 
found freedom to introduce the subject. For, 
my dear J., in most places where I have called 
amongst my acquaintances, I have not found 
that freedom. Why it is so, perhaps we have 
not need to inquire. There is a peculiar grati- 
fication in finding those we love, and with whom 
we have fellowship in some things, united with 
us in all things wherein we feel a deep interest. 
Perhaps this is not always best for us, as by be- 
ing disappointed herein, we may be brought into 
an acquaintance with others of the fold and flock 
of Christ, and thus, as such acquaintance in- 
creases, our views may become enlarged, and 
our hearts expanded, into regions of society we 
had otherwise never known. 

There is every reason to suppose I shall re- 
main here, on my brother's account, until after 
the A. S. Convention. If so, I shall rejoice in 
that circumstance, as something of a counterba- 
lance to those I have to regret herein. I would 
now desire heartily to congratulate those devoted 
sisters, A. E. and S. M. Grimke, in that they 
have given themselves up for the promotion of 
a cause that is evilly spoken of, and that, too, in 
a way that the superficial, the worldly, and the 
sectarian, seem to stand prepared to condemn; 
hoping that whereunto they have attained, they 
may continue to walk by the same rule, and mind 
the same thing. M. S. 



204 LETTERS OF 

LETTER XC. 

Kimherton, 3d mo. 10, 1838. 
My Dear Family : 

# * * * We have been blessed 

beyond what we could have asked, in meeting 
that welcome, wherever we have come, that 
makes us feel at once at home ; — in finding also 
an entrance to the hearts of the people when 
assembled. And though I have rarely found 
myself on a journey of this kind before, in which 
I had not a more distinct view given of each 
day's work or destination before it arrived, yet 
I never felt more calm in resting in the present 
moment. * 

M.S. 



LETTER XCI. 

Plumstead, 7th mo. 11, 1838. 
My Dear Friend : 

We were much gratified yesterday by the re- 
ceipt of a letter from thee, bearing post-mark of 
June 29; or rather, I may say, quite disappointed 
in the reading of it, to find nothing about Ma- 
tilda, or any other earthly subject. And though 
thou wast in New-York at the time of the Yearly- 
meetinof, and no doubt heard somewhat of its 
transactions — not one word thereon ; not even 
to say how they get along at that, or any other 
time, without P. I. Merritt, whose loss I thought 
the Friends of that Monthly-meeting would feel 
very sensibly, as she appeared to stand in the 



MARTHA SMITH. 205 

gap between rigid disciplinarians and those who 
happened to offend against them. Not a word 
about our dear friends Anna and Martha Lef- 
ferts, in their bereaved state ; neither of thy own 
family, in whose welfare we feel a particular 
interest. But, for myself, I can excuse thy si- 
lence on those subjects, seeing thy mind is all 
engrossed on what, from thy writing, would ap- 
pear to be an entirely new subject, and of which 
I should be glad to hear something more from 
thee. Is it really new to thy mind, that the attri- 
butes of Deity, as displayed in the life and cha- 
racter of Jesus, really and substantially testify 
of him as the first-born of many brethren, or the 
first representative of the church, in whom was 
begotten, or in whom dwelt, that perfect love 
that enabled him to withstand the temptations 
unto which humanity is liable ; therein evincing 
to a dark and bewildered world, that the same 
doctrine vrhich was implied in the law given to 
Adam in Eden, was the alone way of salvation. 
Hence, to those w ] 10 had fallen under the curse, 
or in consequence of the state of things brought 
about by his failure, or disobedience, that world 
of sin and iniquity in which mankind has be- 
come involved. To such, the adoption of that 
doctrine or law became, and still becomes, the 
only way of redemption. Hence the adorable 
Jesus stands the one mediator, or visible and 
sensible medium, by which the rational mind 
comes to a knowledge of God. By embracing 
his doctrines and obeying his precepts, we come 
18 



206 LETTERS OP 

into union and communion with him. Hence 
the testimony of Paul : "I live, yet not I, but 
Christ liveth in me." Hence that abhorrence and 
loathing of the soul (that has come to an under- 
standing of these things) for every thing of an 
opposite nature ; and hence that longing to de- 
part therefrom, and to be with, or conformed 
wholly to, Christ. 

But if thy views have changed on that subject, 
why is it necessary for thee to change position, 
that is, join thyself to the Orthodox ? If thou 
hast received thy views under the ministry of J. 
J. G., is that an evidence that they alone hold 
the true doctrine ! For my own part, though I 
have had serious doubts for some time, as to 
whether our Friends have a right understanding 
of the character and office of Jesus of Naza- 
reth, yet I have as much doubt as to the Ortho- 
dox understanding it essentially. Therefore, 
unless the path of duty lead thee thereunto, I 
hope thou wilt be preserved from changing in 
such a way as would seem to manifest instability. 
During a visit of a few weeks last winter and 
spring in some parts of Chester county, I was 
favored with an insight jritp that subject, which 
I had been longing for, for years; and if thou 
wert here, I should love to converse with thee 
about it. 

We had looked somewhat for thee this sum- 
mer, and whenever thou feels it in the w r ay of 
commission or permission, I hope thou wilt find 
a door of entrance into our house. It is cheer- 



MARTHA SMITH. 207 

ing to find thou still feels an interest in the 
cause of the down-trodden slave. 

I now close, and desire thee to write again if 
thee feels to do so, as I trust thou wilt never 
have any thing to communicate in that way, 
which will not be interesting to thy friend, 

M. S. 



LETTER XCII. 

Plumstead, Sth mo. 10, 1838. 
Dear P. : 

It was pleasing to receive an answer to my 
last so early as the fifth of this month, and also 
the matter it contained ; and if it were possible 
to receive in writing, or rather to understand by 
writing, the views and sentiments of another as 
clearly as they can be conveyed by questions and 
answers, I would take this method of comparing 
views ; for I have been very desirous of having 
the sentiments of a candid Orthodox on the cha- 
racter of Christ; but will rather postpone it until 
thou comes, which, if thou art ready to do, our 
family will all welcome thee, I trust ; and I do 
not suppose any of thy friends will look much 
askance at thee, if thou dost not at them. I saw 
J. and M. Ma gill since receiving thy last, and 
told them of the reception of both letters, but 
not of their contents, save what related to the 
lectures thou mentioned. I shall let them have 
the perusal of both when convenient, which will 
probably be on the 18th, as our Anti-Slavery 



208 LETTERS OF 

meeting takes place on that day, and they at- 
tend. I suppose they will be astonished as much 
as our girls were, to hear that P. has turned Or- 
thodox. If thou hadst been a little more explicit 
about those lectures, and as to how they were 
received by the people, and especially by the 
Friends (so called,) it would have been more 
gratifying. I cannot say much about the increase 
of interest on the subject of Abolition amongst 
the people at large, in this part of the country ; 
but for myself, slavery appears to be so directly 
opposite to the doctrines of the gospel, to sound 
policy, and even self-interest of the master, that 
it only wants to be seen as it really is, to make 
it loathsome in the extreme to every rational 
mind. 

Thou hast no doubt read the account of the 
transactions in Philadelphia last Fifth month, at 
which time the purpose of many was entirely 
diverted from its object, in that there was no 
place found for the Free-Produce convention to 
meet. It now appears there is a call for it again 
on the fifth of next month. 

My views on that subject have changed de- 
cidedly, and it appears quite inconsistent for 
Abolitionists to be living on the gain of oppres- 
sion ; that while we disavow the principle of 
inducing the masters to release the slaves from 
motives of interest, we also show by our actions 
that we are not influenced by self-interest in pro- 
curing the fruit of his unrequited labors, because 
it is cheaper than the other. 



MARTHA SMITF. 209 

I may now tell thee, my sphere of action has 
been considerably enlarged since I saw thee ;— • 
attended Baltimore Yearly-meeting last fall ; 
also a number of meetings in the course of the 
winter, a distance from home, and. am now pre- 
paring to attend Indiana Yearly-meeting; should 
have been glad of thy assistance, both spiritually 
and temporally, if thou had seen it in thy way to 
be with us ; shall set out, if permitted in the 
truth, the fourth of next month, and perhaps not 
return till the Eleventh month. Now, in case 
thou favors me with another letter, please be a 
little more explicit, and tell me whether thou at- 
tends meeting, where, and how received. With 
unabated love for thee and thy near connexions, 
for want of more time, I must conclude, and re- 
main thy friend. M. S. 



LETTER XCIII. 

Columbiana Co., O., 12th mo. 16, 1838- 
Mr Dear Husband : 

Although in the midst of the preparations for 
getting away from home there was nothing said 
about writing, and the uncertainty of letters 
arriving as intended has almost discouraged me, 
yet feeling thee, with our dear children, this eve- 
ning brought very near, it is with me to commu- 
nicate in this way some of the particulars of our 
journey, not doubting that your thoughts have 
been much with us, as mine have been with you. 
But I am often reminded that I must resign you 
18* 



210 LETTERS OF 

all, and every thing else that can be taken from 
me, seeing that all my efforts to bring heaven 
and earth together, or in other words, all the 
efforts that I have made (which have been many) 
to serve the great Master in the way that the 
world approves, have been marked by disap- 
pointment; and I greatly fear that most, if not 
all the difficulties that we have had to contend 
with in our domestic concerns, are traceable to 
this cause ; for I well remember when the in- 
junction was impressed upon my mind before I 
was settled in life — " Seek first the kingdom of 
Heaven and the righteousness thereof, and all 
things necessary shall be added.' ' When I re- 
member the past, survey the present, or look to 
the future, all I can ask for you is the protection 
and direction of Divine Providence ; all I can 
ask for myself, is to become more conformed to 
the Heavenly Father's will. * * * 

M.S. 



LETTER XCIV. 

Plumstead, 3d mo. 18, 1S39. 
My Dear P. : 

* * * How is it thou hast not written 
to me again ? I should like to hear how thou art 
getting along with thy (supposed) new faith. I 
say supposed, because I can recollect the clear- 
ness of thy doctrine on the saving power of gos- 
pel love, long since ; and it appears to me the 
only change that has taken place in thy mind is, 



MARTHA SMITH. 211 

that thy understanding has perceived the fact, 
that Jesus was the first medium to the world of 
mankind for illustrating, both by precept and ex- 
ample, the extent thereof; and that love be- 
coming predominant in man over every other 
love or lust, producing entire obedience of all 
the powers of mind, chastening the aifections, 
subduing the passions and curbing the appetites 
common to the animal nature, is what we call 
the new birth, Christ in you, the hope of glory 
— the same that subdues the natural will, with 
all its runnings to and fro ; its anxieties to do 
something for the good cause, (professedly ;) its 
voluntary sacrifices, and its thousands of turnings 
and twinings, (serpent like.) This will being thus 
surrendered, man comes to see that Christ, the 
power of God and the wisdom of God, worketh 
in him, both to will and to do, according to his 
own good pleasure. 

I fully concur with thee in ascribing falsity to 
the expression that is often used, " that we know 
enough ;" and perhaps this mistaken idea of 
knowledge is the greatest hindrance that pre- 
vents our coming to the true knowledge, in that 
it prevents our seeking for it. Please write soon 
(if thou art not coming in person,) to thy friend 
in faith, 

M.S. 

How is the great cause of humanity progress- 
ing among you ? I trust it is gaining ground, 
though slowly, here. 



212 LETTERS OF 

LETTER XCV. 
Scottsville, N. F., 6th mo. 24, 1539, 

My Dear Husband and Children : 

# # * # # # You have 
continued to be the companions of my thoughts 
from day to day, and an earnest desire for your 
preservation, amidst the conflicting cares of busi- 
ness, dwells with me so much that my sleeping 
hours are often occupied with dreams of an un- 
pleasant nature. Whether these things are suf- 
fered in order more effectually to wean me from 
those objects which cling closer and closer to my 
selfish nature, or whether they have their origin 
in that sympathy to which our mental constitu- 
tion is peculiarly adapted, and which renders us 
capable of feeling for, and thus in some measure 
bearing, one another's burthens in the social com- 
pact and necessary concerns of life, I cannot 
fully decide. But thus much I do know : that 
feeling to be in my own proper place, I must 
leave you all to the superintending care of that 
Providence who watched over and preserved me, 
long before I was justly sensible thereof. 

* * * * I omitted to mention that 
we lodged on Fifth-day night at I. Post's, in Ro- 
chester. He and his wife were with us next day 
at B. Reighneif \s. They are decided Abolition- 
ists. Friends where we have been, with a very 
few exceptions, practice, as far as they can, on 
the principle of abstinence from the products of 
slave labor. They appear much more engaged, 



MARTHA SMITH. 213 

as a body, on the subject, than in our part of the 
country. A public lecture was given on Fourth- 
day afternoon of the Yearly-meeting week, in 
our part of the meeting-house. A large com- 
mittee at the same time was sitting in the other 
part, to consider of a memorial that had been 
sent from one of the subordinate meetings to the 
Yearly-meeting for its sanction, and designed to 
be directed from the Yearly-meeting down to all 
the subordinate meetings, for members to sign 
individually, then to be sent to the Meeting for 
Sufferings, and by it forwarded to the Senate and 
House of Representatives, praying for all that the 
two Houses have pow T er to do, to be done, on the 
subject of slavery. I attended with them. It 
was an interesting meeting, and after a free ex- 
pression of sentiments respecting it, a sub-com- 
mittee was appointed to make some alterations 
in the memorial, which was afterward attended 
to, and the Yearly-meeting decided upon, au- 
thorising the clerks of both meetings to sign it 
on behalf thereof. * * * M. S. 



[The following letters, with the exception of the 
last three, were written during a journey to Ohio and 
Indiana.] 

LETTER XCVI. 

Valley, 9th mo. 6, 1839. 
My Dear Husband : 

After a safe and steady drive, we are here. 
The sun's last rays shone amongst the clouds in 



214 LETTERS OF 

the west as we passed the meeting-house and 
turned towards Joseph Walker's, which is within 
call thereof. Have spent the evening partly in 
listening to a written account of his son Isaac, a 
young man twenty-five years of age, who de- 
ceased two weeks since ; and partly in conversing 
on the responsibility that rests upon mortals for 
the right occupation of the time and talents with 
which they aie blessed. May my dear children 
be made duly sensible thereof in early life, is my 
prayer for them ; and this can only be effected 
by the all-powerful influence of divine love, 
drawing the mind to the great fountain or source 
of Good, and then giving it an understanding of 
the things that make for peace. My mind has 
felt solemnized this afternoon, and this text of 
Scripture has several times run through it : " Let 
not him that putteth on the harness boast himself 
as him that putteth it off." There is consolation 
felt in knowing that all pertaining to this world, 
even to my dear family, has been given up on 
the present occasion, for the sake of, and in the 
hope of, the gospel of Jesus Christ. * 

M.S. 



LETTER XCVII. 

9th mo. 28, 1839. 
My Dear Husband : 

* * * * Attended Select meeting. 
Mourning and lamentation was the language of 
some of the members. For my part I felt no- 



MARTHA SMITH. 215 

thiri^ like it. The cloud that had rested on the 
tabernacle before me, on the way, being re- 
moved, T saw the way open, and read the posi- 
tive, though persuasive language : " Speak to my 
people, that they go forward. " # * 

Yesterday received a letter from home, the 
contents of which, excepting the part relating to 
mother, were very gratifying. I have always 
had a strong desire (if it might be permitted,) 
to be with her and have the care of her in her 
last days, and especially if she became helpless; 
so that the intelligence of her increased debility 
is very afflicting. But I do not see that I can do 
otherwise, situated as I am, than to attend to the 
concern, by which I was constrained, after 
weighing all the probable and apparent conse- 
quences, to leave them in that Hand upon which 
I felt, and still feel, to lean for support. Give 
my kind love to her. I trust she will be well 
attended to, and well satisfied where she is. The 
accounts of my children and domestic concerns 
are a renewed confirmation that they are much 
better without me than when I am at home and 
not in my right place. * * * * 

9th mo. 30. — The Yearly-meeting convened. 
Priscilla Cadwallader took a seat by my side, ra- 
ther late, not being able to leave her bed long 
at a time. A view of the great and only diffi- 
culty that stands in the way of our getting along 
aright under every circumstance, being the un- 
subjected will of man, presented before me, upon 



%IQ LETTERS OF 

which I arose, and as the subject enlarged, em- 
bracing the Yearly-meeting and its concerns, 
relieved my mind, and thus cleared my own way 
in a few expressions ; after which, Pristilla ex- 
pressed her unity, and continued enlarging on 
the same subject, in the same powerful manner 
that we have heard her in times that are past. 
Her ministry had at this time, as at others, the 
tendency to turn my thoughts directly inward, 
to examine my own standing. There is a great 
deal that we hear amongst us, m the line of the 
ministry, that leads the mind around the con- 
tracted circle of our Society, without seeming to 
o-ive it one glimpse of light beyond. There is 
another kind, (which we hear too little of,) that 
expands it in light and love to the utmost bounds 
of the habitable globe. Of these three kinds 
the first and the last are to me the true gospel 
ministry. The other may have its use, for aught 
I know, as one of the preparatory means of Di- 
vine Providence in instructing the minds of some, 
but I fear it is greatly impeding the individual 
progress of many. Priscilla left immediately 
after speaking, informing us that her health 
would not permit her remaining. After the mi- 
nutes for Miriam and myself were read, it was 
proposed that -if the Friends had a desire to go 
into the men's meeting, the way was open — 
which paved the way for what occurred to me, 
as a requisite step. Accordingly, accompanied 
Lydia Plummer, and relieved my mmd, without 
occupying much time. This session of the 






MARTHA SMITH. 217 

Yearly-meeting was conducted harmoniously, 
the liberty of truth extending over it. 

Third-day, 10th mo. 1. — Felt great freedom 
in participating with Friends, during a long ses- 
sion. The queries were all read and answered, 
pretty much in the way that we have been accus- 
tomed to hear them. After its close, sat a com- 
mittee of the Yearly-meeting that has had the 
care of the African concerns, (so called,) for 
several years, which is to assist the colored peo- 
ple in schooling their children. There was evi- 
dence of considerable life in the cause ; and a 
proposition to extend the exertions of said com- 
mittee further, and embrace a larger field of 
labor, called forth the expression of sentiment in 
several to that end, but finally gave way to the 
conclusion that, as a committee of the Yearly- 
meeting, they were not warranted in so doing. 

The prospect in regard to the abolition subject 
is by no means discouraging. The ground is 
being broken up, and although there are some, 
or rather, I may say, many, of the old trees and 
stumps standing, there is preparation making 
that the seed may be cast in ; and when once 
sown, there is no fear but it will take root and 
grow in many minds. Indeed, there is no rea- 
son to doubt the final success of this cause every 
where, seeing it is so good a one. I feel much 
interest in our little Society at home, and desire 
its members may be diligent in stirring each 
other up, and circulating information among 
others, as way may open. I find the subject 
19 



21i5 LETTERS OF 

more and more pressing upon me in connection 
with preaching- the gospel, and that in so doing 
all opposition appears to have been borne down, 
and some who had been considered as decidedly 
averse to hearing any thing respecting it, have 
manifested cordiality, and some expressed unity 
afterward. # # * # # 

Fifth-day, 3d. — This day closed the Yearly- 
meeting. It was one of deep exercise of feeling, 
in which truth arose triumphant over all, I be- 
lieve, in many minds. One young woman, in a 
sweet and solemn tone, with great deliberation, 
testified what she had felt, and openly covenanted 
with her God, to serve Him, praying for his pre- 
serving care, and desiring that others might come 
to him. Another, apparently further advanced 
in life, in a lively manner testified to the renewal 
of faith she had felt, and encouraged others to 
seek for it ; spake of the preservation she had 
witnessed in a remote wilderness, while her hus- 
band w T as engaged in promoting the anti-slavery 
cause ; and the confidence she had felt in leaving 
her children on the present occasion. But to 
form a conception of the real state of things, one 
must have been present. The effect, however, 
may be compared to a copious shower of rain in 
a thirsty land, which, though in the swelling of 
the streams they were somewhat muddy, yet this 
flowing off, leaves them clear ; and the springs 
having received a replenishing from the great 
fountain, the whole land begins to levive, ver- 
dure clothes the fields, and the face of nature 



MARTHA SMITH. 219 

wears a smile. Such, I am persuaded, it will 
be through the limits of this Yearly-meeting, 
The sleep of death on the subject of human 
rights is broken up, and some minds have arisen 
out of the grave and are preparing to enter into 
labor. ***** * * 

If my last letter was received, I shall expect 
to get one at Green Plain, where we hope to 
arrive in a little more than a week. I am anx- 
ious to hear from mother, as well as the rest of 
you. Give my love to her, and receive all that 
a mother can commit to you, in desires for your 
peace and happiness; also as a wife, I remain 
most affectionately, M. S, 



LETTER XCVIII. 

Waynes ville, 12th mo. 8, 1839, 
My Dear Husband and Children : 

****** Attended the 
Select meeting ; not very large, there being one 
or two Monthly-meetings in the Quarter that 
have no select body belonging to them. It was 
a season of eminent favor, in searching testimony 
as to the duty and responsibility of this part of 
Society, which testimony went over all opposi- 
tion, if any was felt. 

9th. — The Quarterly-meeting was large, and 
favored with the same freedom in testimony, on 
general subjects, (amongst which the Anti-chris- 
tian system of slavery was a prominent one,) as 
on the day previous. The spirit of opposition, 



220 LETTERS OF 

though aroused, as the sequel of the meeting 
manifested, was kept quite under the control of 
good order. Perhaps P. would say, on such an 
occasion, as some of the Disciples did formerly, 
" Lord, even the devils were subject to us in thy 
name ;" which expression, when rightly under- 
stood, is altogether appropriate. The usual man- 
ner of expression on such occasions among 
Friends, has been, that " truth rose into domi- 
nion." For my own part, I find that when my 
own choice of things is given up, both as to 
manner, matter, time and place, that truth then 
rises into dominion in me, as an instrument, and 
whatever is done through the instrument, in that 
passive state, is in the power of truth, or in other 
language, by Jesus the Saviour* * 

And now, though perhaps you are looking for 
us home, I must inform that it will be several 
weeks (most likely) before we can arrive. I had 
vainly striven to get through so as to reach home 
to assist in the press of business that presents to 
farmers' families at this season of the year ; but 
have at length become reconciled to conform to 
what may be required from day to day. I get 
my bread as I go along, and have found way 
made to proceed, pretty much in the same man- 
ner, oftentimes not knowing one day what was 
to be done the next. Feel my trust in Provi- 
dence, both for you and myself, renewed from 
time to time, or rather, an abiding trust. * # 

M.S. 



MARTHA SMITH. 221 

LETTER XCIX. 

12th mo. 28, 1839. 
My Dear Husband and Children : 

* * ■* * * * Snowing and 
storming all day. Think ourselves well provided 
for, in that we are with kind friends. 

29th. — Completety storm -bound; roads full, 
fences drifted up, and still blowing. A few 
Friends worked their way with horses, oxen and 
sleds, to meeting. The oldest settlers here have 
never known such a drifted snow, though it is 
not supposed to be more than two feet deep on 
a level. We have, iii the situation in which we 
are now placed, a frosh proof of our shortsight- 
edness in what is really best for us, even as to 
temporal comfort; it having been extremely in 
the cross, to the natural affections of the heart, to 
make such a digression to the north, when we 
had been contemplating taking a tolerably direct 
course homeward, at the very time when, in ad- 
dition to the various ties of filial, maternal and 
conjugal affection, considerations of temporal 
economy, and the probable inclemency of the 
season approaching, combined to strengthen the 
draught in that direction ; — for had we proceeded 
as contemplated when we left Berlin, we should, 
no doubt, have found ourselves thus hedged in 
amongst strangers ad on expenses, perhaps on 
the bleak mountains where we found a deficiency 
in the genial comforts of life, even in the Ninth 
month. What, thefl, might we not had to en- 



222 LETTERS OF 

counter in the Twelfth ! We are now amidst a 
little band of Friends, and numerous of other de- 
nominations, in whose minds the way appears 
opening for the testimonies of truth, in that way 
like unto the voice of " one crying in the wilder- 
ness:" and we are now only waiting for the roads 
to be opened so that the people can collect toge- 
ther to furnish the opportunity to declare of those 
things, which, when seen in the light of Christ, 
and ability felt which is in him, is meat and 
drink to the believer. * - # # 

1st mo. 10. — Again find my purpose thwarted, 
having contemplated leaving here (Brighton) to- 
day for Alleghany ; but not finding liberty so to 
do, am waiting with hope, for 1 durst not say it 
is with 'patience. Those who have never known 
living one day at a time, cannot see any propriety 
in it, nor conceive why it should be so. For my 
own part, I have no doubt of its being the way 
best calculated to reduce me to that littleness 
which is necessary. 

* I fully believe that when there 
is a strong desire for improvement in that way, 
it is important such desire should be ©ratified as 
far as possible ; but if impossible, rmd the atten- 
tion is turned to ^//^cultivation, such a mind may 
come into the school of Christ, and therein expe- 
rience more real advantage than all other school- 
ing in the world can confer without it. The 
studies of that school can be \ ursued in the 
midst of other avocations, as the Teacher will 
always be with us if we will attend to Him ; yea, 



MARTHA SMITH. 223 

is with us, though there may be so little atten- 
tion paid to Him, that His instructions are un- 
heard, and His rules unnoticed. That my chil- 
dren may become deeply learned therein, is my 
most solemn desire for them, and that they may 
apply such learning to the use designed. Less 
or more than this I have not presumed to ask at 
the Throne of Grace at any time for them ; know- 
ing that if we win Christ therein, we shall come 
to inherit all things. * * * * * 

M.S. 



LETTER C. 

umskip, Be 
1st mo. 22, 1810. 



St. Clear Township, Bedford Co., ) 



My Dear Friend : 

My mind having been very often with thee, as 
also with some other dear friends in the same 
neighborhood, I have felt this afternoon to com- 
mune with you in this way. 

Since we last parted, thy affectionate spirit 
has often seemed to be with me ; and when visit- 
ing our valued friends the Dugdales, thy pre- 
sence was all that was wanting to render it most 
excellent ; for they were evidently disappointed 
in not seeing thee. 

Thou wilt perhaps look for a sketch of history 
from me, but having written such a sketch, and 
sent it home, in several letters, the incidental 
part of my travels has passed away. The feel- 
ings that have generally attended my mind con- 



£24 LETTERS OF 

tinue much the same. Finding my peace was 
no longer to be found at home, or in the things 
thereof, the determination took place in my 
thoughts, that if way was made for pursuing the 
journey then before me, I would give up to the 

fuidance of the Master so long as He should 
eep it open. Accordingly, we set out. The point 
in view was Indiana Yearly-meeting. There 
was a great space of country lying before me, 
but what part of it was to be found accessible to 
the pleaching of the gospel, without all the ap- 
pendages that the order (so called) attaches to it, 
was unknown. My confidence was in Christ; a 
solemn weight rested on me, " not knowing what 
things should befal me." But on taking my seat 
in the Select meeting at Richmond, on Seventh- 
day morning, the burthen left me, and the man- 
tle of Christ assumed its place, and that has con- 
tinued to be the covering of my spirit since. 
Overspread with such a canopy, my head has 
been shielded in every battle that I have had 
with the fear of man. And this, I am thoroughly 
persuaded, is the greatest foe we have to guard 
against — the stronghold in which Solf becomes 
entrenched for safety, or the flimsy covering with 
which it seeks to screen the love of its own life. 
Nor do I believe we can ever get the victory 
Over this, until Jesus Christ, the saving love of 
God, has full possession of the soul. Therefore, 
in every instance in which that fear is cast out, 
fio that the action or actions wrought are devoid 
of it, it is in consequence of the superior preva- 



MARTHA SMITH. 225 

lence of that love, under which nothing can be 
exalted but the Creator, because the creature is 
in subjection, and willingly so. Oh! my friend, 
how I long for the increase of that true humility 
that would grow out of the true and saving 
knowledge. How worse than useless would 
then appear the mock humility that stands in 
abundance of profession of it, and how insuffi- 
cient the knowledge, which, we often hear said, 
is not wanting. My joy and rejoicing is continu- 
ally in this, that it is increasing. The eye of 
faith beholds it as the effect of the same Saviour 
that operated formerly through the medium of 
one prepared body — now operating through 
thousands and tens of thousands of mediums of 
God's own preparing. It is being seen in His 
providences, in His mercies, and in that very 
retribution which ungodliness is producing in it8 
own works and upon its workers. 

Merion, 2d mo. 23. — At the time I wrote the 
above, my mind was forcibly drawn to relieve 
itself of the deep feeling of unity and sympathy 
that bound me to thyself and some others of my 
friends in Bucks county. Indeed, my cross has 
been in this separation, during the whole of the 
journey. My family and friends have been like 
a loadstone, tugging at my heart continually, and 
it was not until now that I could distinguish why 
it was so (exactly;) one reason for which is, that 
through those strong sympathies of our nature, 
we become more sensible of the moral sympa- 
thies that bind the children of men together every 



226 LETTERS OF 

where ; and that because of the many counter- 
acting circumstances, all arising out of one cause, 
(selfishness,) suffering and sorrow abound, in- 
stead of love, joy, peace, &c. ; that by a constant 
reference to these social feelings in myself, I am 
taught to fee] with and for the afflicted every 
where, and especially for the slave and the slave 
mother and wife. * * * * * 

M.S. 



•■} 



LETTER CI. 

Half moon Valley, Centre Co., Pa. 
1st mo. 27, 1S40. 
My Dear Husband and Children : 

* ■ * * * * * I suppose 

you may again be looking for us home; therefore 
feel somewhat for your disappointment. As to 
myself, having become inured thereto, happily, 
in this thing my neck is bent to the yoke ; and 
though, one week since, I imagined (for it has 
proved nothing but imagination) that we should 
get home on First-day next, yet now am left to- 
tally uncertain as to the time that we may arrive. 
All the meetings that were before me when 1 
set out, still stand as they did, and most likely 
we will remain and take them. My prayers are 
that we may all profit by these things. Hitherto, 
there has not been one step of my movements 
during this journey, that I could have bettered ; 
and by watching as hitherto, from day to day, 
trust I shall return to you in peace. That the 



MARTHA SMITH. 227 



same peace may be with you, now and ever, is 
the solemn prayer of my soul for you, in which 
I remain affectionately yours, M. S. 



LETTER CII. 

Solebury, 1 1th mo. 28, 1840. 
Dear Brother: 

* * #1 was preparing to return and 

finish my visit in New-York, but finding my 
health somewhat impaired by exertions made in 
my domestic affairs, I concluded to try a course 
of Thomsonian medicine ; after which so much 
disease manifested itself about me, that I felt 
quite released from the prospect, and set about 
what I thought would repair the shattered bark, 
if any thing would. About the third week of 
my practice, our dear Martha Ann was brought 
from her brother's, on the farm, where she had 
remained, being unwell, apparently with a cold. 
She declined having a doctor, and in a few days 
proposed taking a course, which succeeded very 
well ; but the disease being so insidious, and 
marked by no symptoms calculated to arouse our 
apprehensions of its malignant nature, and she 
much averse to taking the medicine, but more 
particularly owing to my inability to apply it, 
and consequently to urge it, the disease gradu- 
ally progressed, till finally we sent for Dr. Smith. 
He came on the 15th, but found it what he pro- 
nounced almost a hopeless case, and so it shortly 
proved. On the night of the 18th, about half 



228 LETTERS OP 

past eleven, she passed away with perfect se- 
renity, as one in a deep sleep ; not a muscle of 
the face moved, nor a limb quivered. TI1113 an- 
other of the links of that chain which binds a 
parent's heart to earth is broken. * * * 

M.S. 



LETTER CIII. 

Solcbury, 12th mo. 17, 1840. 
Dear Brother : 

I now tike up the pen to relieve the anxiety 
I suppose thou must have bean under for some 
weeks past. TI13 truth is, I have not been able 
to write, having exhausted my remaining strength . 
During our dear child's last suffering hours, I 
found it necessary to enter upon a more active 
course of treatment in my own case, which has 
been attended with some further prostration of 
strength. I have at all times been able to sit up 
part of the day, and rest comfortably at night. I 
have had no acute pains. Weakness in the back, 
and inflammation in the tonsils and glands of the 
throat, are the characteristics of my complaint, 
with considerable debility of the nervous system. 
Whether these will yield to the Thomsonian 
practice, is yet to be seen; but thus far I am sa- 
tisfied with having pursued it, and feel to await 
the issue with resignation, which I hope thou wilt 
do also. I have great cause to be thankful for 
the peace of m'nd and ease of body I have been 
blessed with. **#### 

And now I have to advert to a subject of a 



MARTHA SMITH. 229 

deep and solemn nature. Our long afflicted and 
beloved mother is no more. She had been for 
some days gradually sinking, and yesterday 
morning about four, she ceased to breathe — so 
quietly as to be almost imperceptible. I have 
been for three months prevented from seeing her, 
in consequence of my own ill health. Whilst 
we sensibly feel the separation of so tender a 
tie, we have cause to rejoice that she is relieved 
from her sufferings. She had so far outlived her 
mental faculties that we suppose she scarcely 
realized the approach of that change which she 
had long seemed to desire. I feel that I have 
written as much as my strength will bear; and 
now, in the faith that all that is good will be pre- 
served, and the belief that all that is evil must 
perish, whether individually or in the world at 
large, I bid thee farewell. M. S. 



[This letter, having been omitted in its proper 
place, is inserted here :] 

LETTER CIV. 

Newport, Cth mo. 18, 1824. 
Dear Brother : 

It was very grateful to me, as well as my 
friends, to receive thine of the 15th instant, last 
evening ; for, as thou hast observed, it is those 
who meet and dwell with us in true Christian 
fellowship, that constitute the real brother and 
sister in Christ. And it having been declared 
that, " Where I am, there must my servant be 



230 LETTERS. 

also" — if we can feel that we are where he is, 
that is, if we have that quietness of mind that 
will stand amid all the fluctuating scenes around 
us, all is well. I have not time to give thee a 
full account of what has transpired. The Yearly- 
meeting concluded late last evening. I have had 
close testimonies to bear here, for which I have 
been repeatedly rebuked by persons who have 
called upon me at my lodgings, with the proposal 
that I would sit among them in silence. I did 
not say much to them ; only reverted to the be- 
ginning, when, in order to enjoy liberty of con- 
science, Friends withdrew from other Societies, 
and now there was a disposition with some to 
balk our own testimony, by depriving their fel- 
low-members of this privilege. I was content to 
stay at home that afternoon, but went next day, 
and opened my mind by telling how I had been 
admonish 3d, and that I would gladly have com- 
plied, but love to my Heavenly Father, and duty 
to Him, would not permit it. I then directed 
them to consider what must be the consequence 
of such conduct, and what was the moving cause 
thereof. I attended all the future sittings, in 
company with Eliza Rotch and Anna Robinson, 
two faithful Friends. The archers have shot at 
me, the arrows have fallen around me on every 
side, but not one has wounded me. M. S. 



THE END. 



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